Gold is Power
by Simmetra
Summary: FINALLY UPDATED! Artemis Fowl creates a virtual reality game with the help of advanced fairy technology, and now, Holly Short and friends seem to be trapped inside a game that is rumored impossible to win. Pairings: HxT some AH Full summary inside.
1. Foaly the Grump

_Gold Is Power_

_**Author Notes: **This is my very first fic! I would appreciate reviews and if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them I'll try to update regularly but I cannot promise anything, however I will try my absolute best. _

_**Full Summary: **In Haven City, Lower Elements all the technological genii gather up on this day to compete for the Lower Elements' Annual Techies Competition. This year's challenge, competitors have to make, design, and program a virtual game! Well, Foaly has been the 1st place winner 299 years straight, and is boasting about his soon-to-be 300th win. But when Artemis Fowl enters the competition himself, everything Foaly dreamed of was shattered and Holly, Root, Mulch, the Kelps, the Butlers, and Foaly himself find themselves trapped in a virtual reality game of doom, which is rumored to be impossible to win! _

_Meanwhile the Fowls decide to take a family vacation…without the Butlers! And worst of all…without technology! Our beloved Arty, not only gets to know his parents and the rest of his family a lot better, but he meets…a girl!_

_I'd like to say thank you to all of my favorite AF writers out there, who have inspired me greatly ) And of course I'd like to thank Eoin Colfer. Which reminds me:_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Arty or any of his friends ( All of which were created by genius Eoin Colfer. _

_The first chapter is a bit slow, and I apologize if it is sort of boring. I tried to make it as interesting as I can, and I promise you that I have the entire plot planned out chapter by chapter, so anything that I put on the first chapter will come to great importance later on ;) Be patient with me! _

_PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW! Remember: You can still review even if you do not have an account! Your reviews are what keep me going! Constructive criticism is always welcomed._

_I apologize for the author notes being so long! If you have read all this, you get a cookie:3_

Chapter One Foaly the Grump

In a swift and fluid motion the pod rolled its way off the railing, straight down into the void. All too quickly, a current of magma and immense air pressure began engulfing the craft to the point where a rusty bolt almost gave way. All you could make out of the titanium egg were the fins sticking out from the spherical vehicle at odd angles. The pod went spinning and spiraling it's way towards the surface at such a tremendous force, it was a wonder how the metal casing didn't give in.

Maneuvering at all it's got inside the century old chutes, nearly avoiding and dodging the deathly sharp stalagmites, the craft expertly steered it's way out of the dying flare and glided through the cool air. Steam started hissing from the egg as cold air met hot metal. Without a single hesitation, the craft abruptly swiveled on it's axis, the engines purring and the pod vibrating and clattering, and promptly it teased on to the docking zone and safely hovered above the landing pad, where it steadily lowered until it came to an all-around stop. The nodes clicked, fastened tight into the grooves, and all at once a mechanical door swooshed open.

Captain Holly Short breathed a deep sigh of relief as she exited the pod vehicle and stepped out onto the surface. She had rode pods countless times before as an LEP captain, but she just never got used to the feeling of the pressure seemingly squeezing you into nothingness.

She looked out onto the clear night sky. It was filled with beautiful silver stars winking right at her. She let out a gasp as the beauty of it all filled her from head to toe and she felt warmth in her heart. _One day, we will once again return to the surface…and I long to see the day._ A sudden buzz on her radio knocked her out of her reverie and she was forced to snap back into LEP mode.

"Holly, we don't have all day here! Just pick up an acorn and complete the ritual so we can get back to the mission!" It was Foaly's voice of course. Holly groaned in annoyance. During these days she absolutely couldn't stand Foaly. He was very stressed for time, and he badly needed Holly's help. Holly terribly wanted to refuse, and see the darn centaur deal with his problem on his own, but she couldn't. She was his friend after all and he badly wanted this. Holly knew that she herself had asked Foaly for countless things and he had saved her in more than one occasion. It was only part of her nature to help out a friend. But these days Foaly could act like such a bossy, know-it-all, drama-queen!

Holly picked up an acorn and strapped on her wings. It was at precisely this spot where it all started…

She quickly kicked off and zoomed off about two miles away from Tara, burying the seed in a small garden at some nearby children's park.

"Holly, I've already got the shuttle ready. Can you hurry it up any faster? We haven't got all night!" Foaly whined. Holly quickly switched the radio off and tried to calm her anger. She tried to reconcile herself that she wasn't doing this all completely for Foaly…she badly needed to perform the ritual, and always longed for a visit to the surface. Which was quite rare nowadays when Haven was actually quiet and peaceful for once. No, she was doing this because she wanted to see an old friend, who had kidnapped her about three years before…. Now it was time to return the favor.

Artemis Fowl sat in the meditating position, his forefinger rubbing his temple. His skin was as pale as ever and his features…emotionless. The only real difference was that he had indeed kept his word in trying to keep fit ever since the last adventure. Every day since then, he spent the mornings walking or jogging with Butler while pondering on his next activities. His ravenous hair, which seemed a deep contrast compared to his skin, was also quite a bit longer. Other than that, he was much like his old self, the ever-calculating, criminal mastermind. However, now instead of robbing people off their gold and keeping all valuables for himself, he settled on robbing famous art pieces and donating them to museums and the likes.

It somewhat kept him satisfied and somewhat amused, seeing his anonymous name in all the newspaper magazines and on TV. Countless times they had called him _generous, self-less, _and even a _hero._ Artemis shuddered at the word, it was completely the opposite of what he really is…or _was_? Artemis didn't know. He never exactly regretted his criminal ventures. The thrill of executing a brilliant plan was what he lived for. It was simply the Fowl way. But, he knew he couldn't return to the monster he was three years ago… and that thought always crossed Artemis' mind. Was he going soft?

Whether or not he was, the fact remained that he was a Fowl. The Fowl side of him will never give up criminal deeds. But the Artemis side of him has a conscious and sometimes he feels guilty for his actions. Especially lately, his parents had a long talk to him over dinner, claiming they were _disappointed_ in him. Artemis just couldn't shrug it off this time…the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his parents, it wasn't just the Artemis-side of him, it was simply honor. It was the way he was raised. _Will they be disappointed in me now? If they knew what I was really doing? _Artemis sighed. He had always had a feeling that his father knew precisely what he was doing…at first, his father seemed a bit proud of him. Every morning he would read _The Irish Times _with a smile played on his lips. But not anymore…

Artemis Senior was now completely obsessed with his family. He wanted to know everything about how school was going, and what his son was doing every minute of everyday. He had talked to Artemis several times already; always it ended in him wanting the family to become completely legit. Artemis II, knew what he was doing wasn't precisely legal no matter the intention, but he was a Fowl! And that was that.

Artemis was suddenly startled of his thoughts by a creeping Butler settled right behind him…

"Sir, I believe we have a visitor." Came the deep, resonating sound from the large Eurasian man.

Artemis II stood up to a height of five and a half feet, while relatively tall, was still no match to the ever seven foot man beside him. His left eyebrow arched slightly.

"Friend or foe?" The Fowl heir asked furtively.

"Friend." The bodyguard responded. Artemis knew exactly who was trespassing then. He didn't have many friends…

In response, the teenage boy pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and made his way downstairs. His bodyguard trailing after him, with his own pair of sunglasses.

"What about my parents?" Artemis asked on his way down.

"Mesmerized, apparently. They have both fallen asleep upstairs."

"With no memory of the past twenty minutes I expect. I wonder what they could want of me this time…" Artemis was already downstairs near the kitchen when he came to a sudden stop. Just two feet in front of him, he saw a slight blur.

"Hello, Captain. Would you be so kind as to step into the visible spectrum?"

Suddenly, a three-footed elf appeared out of thin air. Her auburn hair was cropped up in spikes and her ears were pointy. She was wearing the usual LEP uniform, and her helmet rested neatly under her arm. Her right hand hovered right above her neutrino.

"Alright, Fowl. Spill it, how did you know I was here?" Holly Short asked curiously. She didn't look much surprised that Artemis had spotted her; rather, she seemed to have been expecting it.

Artemis waved his hand as if it were nothing and said, "A few months ago I added a new defense system. I simply constructed a rather simple mechanism that detects extremely high frequencies and vibrations. Quite annoying actually, it mostly picks up radio signals and satellite feeds. But tonight it picked up a very faint vibration…you as it happens."

Holly growled viciously, sometimes Fowl was no better than Foaly himself. "Show-off."

Artemis smiled his trademark vampire grin, "I try. Now, to what do I owe your company?"

At that moment, Juliet walked out of the kitchen with a tray of Earl Gray tea and finger sandwiches. She smiled upon seeing Holly and set the tray on a small, yet very expansive coffee table.

"So Holly is here! Looks like your thingamajig actually works, Arty." The teenaged girl squealed in delight. Artemis winced at the last two syllables and followed Juliet into the sitting room. Holly smirked upon seeing Artemis' face and hovering at about two feet trailed after them, Butler followed close behind keeping a sharp eye on the Neutrino.

"Nice to see you again, Juliet," Holly said, "And you too, Butler."

"Likewise, fairy girl." Juliet grinned; Butler merely nodded politely and was as silent as ever.

Artemis took his cup of tea and began, "I take it the invitation I gave you several years ago still applies then?"

"It was hardly _just_ an invitation. You've _kidnapped_ me, be courageous enough to call it what it is. But yes…it still applies as you never took it back." Holly said, "You know, I'm not going to mesmerize you, you can take off those stupid sunglasses."

"Hmm. I think I'll leave them on, thanks." Artemis replied coolly, "You've never answered my question, Captain Short…"

"Typical Mud boy, always straight to business. You haven't changed much at all, have you? Well…we were good friends last time I checked, the least you could say is '_I've missed you_' or something nice for once."

"Something nice for once."

"_Very_ funny…I like you better without the jokes." Holly scowled, Juliet giggled, and Artemis smirked, his fingers laced together and resting on his lap. His slightly tilted head and eyes fixed on her made her shift in her seat and she continued.

"Well, I'm on a mission as you probably already know. To kidnap you. I've got orders where I'm to take you down to Haven, and then everything will be explained there." Holly said.

"And what exactly am I to do at Haven?" Artemis asked, quirking an eyebrow as he said this.

"Top secret, Mud boy. Actually, I'd love nothing but to tell you, just to get that stupid centaur all paranoid, but I'm being monitored."

"I've heard that!" Foaly's voice issued from Holly's helmet. Holly once again turned the radio switch off and continued, ignoring the centaur's sudden outburst completely.

"Anyway…it's your call Fowl. If you would like to help, we've got a shuttle waiting and if not, well it doesn't really matter to me anyways. For once, Haven is actually peaceful, looks like it'd be quite a while until we actually save the world again…"

Artemis nodded understanding the situation completely. Foaly obviously needed help with something…something top secret. Probably an invention of some sort…more out of curiosity, Artemis nodded and took the sunglasses off his eyes. Upon looking at Butler's cautious glance, Artemis nodded reassuringly. Juliet and Butler also took off their spectacles.

"And what of my parents?" Artemis asked.

"They're mesmerized for the next twenty-four hours." Holly responded.

"That takes care of everything then…"

"Yes. And I have my moon-belt and cam-foil so I could probably transport you –"

Artemis shared a nervous look with Butler and both shook their heads. "Um. I think it would be better if I just drive us there…" Butler suggested.

Holly smiled remembering their last trip by moon belt. She was rather disappointed that she wouldn't be able to have another chance at frightening Artemis, zooming through the countryside with the young boy dangling down beneath her, yelling at the top of his lungs has become quite a hobby of hers in the past few years.

"Spoil sport." Holly retorted. Juliet giggled and ate the last of her sandwiches before joining Butler, Artemis, and Holly to the Fowl Bentley.

Once they reached the Underground city, the Butlers and Fowl had to be covered in Cam-foil just in case any fairies were to see them. It was true that Artemis Fowl was a friend to the People, after all he had done to save them, but some fairies were still quite prejudice against Mud men, and would no doubt cause havoc.

Still inside the small shuttle, Holly drove all the way to Police Plaza where she led the seemingly 'invisible' humans through several offices and down countless hallways into the Ops Booth. Artemis made sure to take everything in and was quite surprised to find that Police Plaza was quite empty. Perhaps it was the late hour, or maybe because Haven truly was peaceful as Holly had mentioned before. Artemis was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw Holly kicking upon the door to the Ops booth. Apparently it had been locked. Holly had waited patiently for several seconds until finally resorted to kicking and pounding on the door, which did not in the slightest bit budge.

Artemis raised his eyebrow looking amused at the steamed elf, while Juliet took a more hands-on approach and joined Holly in pounding on the door.

"Are you looking for Foaly?"

Everyone turned to look towards the voice that suddenly spoke and discovered Major Trouble Kelp and his brother Grub Kelp walking down the hallway towards them.

"Is that –Artemis Fowl?" Grub Kelp asked and upon looking at Butler he dove behind Trouble Kelp. Trouble stopped right there and then and took a few cautious steps backwards.

Holly just sighed and crossed her arms, "Yes, we're looking for Foaly. It was Foaly who made me bring Fowl down here. Apparently, he needs his help."

"And…why…why couldn't Foaly just…just come up to the surface?" Grup Kelp mumbled.

Holly and Trouble both scowled, "Because Foaly is too _paranoid_ and _busy_ to make such a trip. He says he cannot risk anything to happen to his precious technology stuff. So he sends me on _my_ day off, to do his dirty work." Holly said bitterly.

"He made me go all the way to Atlantis for him to pick up some micro-disks!" Trouble said.

"I was his personal assistant for the _whole_ day! I had to get him his coffee! And fresh carrots! He said he was too busy to do it himself. Wait until mommy hears what that naughty centaur made me do! I had to polish his hooves." Grub Kelp whined.

Upon looking at the blank faces of the human company, Holly gave herself the responsibility to explain. "This happens every year. See, every year in Haven there is some geeky competition. The LEATC. Lower Elements Annual Techies Competition. Usually Foaly and his usual group of tech boys enter and compete against each other. And for 299 years straight, Foaly has won that competition. You'd think he'd get a life.

"They treat the contest as some huge event and usually people don't stop talking about it for a whole week after it ends. It's quite annoying. The winner wins this huge trophy and a ton of fairy gold. Then their invention gets patented. Every year around this time, Foaly gets all caught up with this competition. He gets rather grumpy and gets on about everyone's throats from lack of sleep. But after the competition he turns right back to his normal Foaly self. See, normally the competitors have a whole year to invent something for the next competition, but what with Foaly being the LEP's technological genius and all, he gets a whole week off right before the competition where he has to come up with an invention to enter to the contest. At first I felt for him, he gets really stressed out about coming up with something, and you know Foaly and his ego…he has to come up with everything completely perfect and extremely hi-tech. But now, he's gone _too_ far. Just yesterday he bribed Mulch into helping him with his invention!"

"What much help could Mulch be?" Artemis asked.

"Well, this year's challenge is to program a game, you see. Mulch happens to be the gaming champion above and below this Earth." Holly smirked.

"I see…and he needs my help with his game, so he could win the competition?"

"Yes. He's obviously desperate then." Holly joked. Artemis narrowed his eyes, sending her daggers. If looks could kill…

"Who judges the competition?" Juliet asked, trying to change the topic.

"This year it's the usual hosts, Brenda Oaks and Alden Thatch. As well as a couple of Haven's top gamers. Mulch included." Trouble replied.

"But wouldn't it be cheating if Mulch helps out Foaly?" Juliet questioned.

"As I said, just yesterday Foaly _bribed_ Mulch into helping him with his invention. It doesn't take much to convince Mulch. But, your right it's completely cheating. Not that it makes much of a difference; everyone cheats in this competition, because that's the _only_ way to go up against Foaly. Some people simply hire a group of Techies to build something for them, and then they claim it as their own invention." Holly said.

It was at that moment that they heard a clopping noise. Everyone knew at once that it was Foaly. He came from the other side of the hallway with a smug look on his face.

"Why, if it isn't our favorite Mud Boy. So, Robin Hood, stolen any more finger paintings recently?" Artemis chose to ignore the question and instead fixed Foaly with one of his icy glares.

"Foaly. I must admit I'm quite surprised, you've finally admitted myself to be the better genius." Artemis gave one of his famous vampire smiles, "but you know, I would've agreed to come down here, have you sent an e-mail. The whole kidnapping charade was a bit unnecessary."

"Dream on Mud boy." Foaly snorted and clopped his way over to the Ops Booth where he typed his password and had his retina and finger print scanned, simultaneously sliding an electric key into the door.

"Now, you must be dying to see my invention."

A/N: This is my first fan fiction, I've ever written! I hope you like it, PLEASE REVIEW! The more you review the faster I update :3 Constructive criticisms is welcome and NEEDED. I know, it's a bit slow and some things in there seem pointless, but I assure you it's not. I have the entire plot planned out on paper. Chapter Two: Juliet's first trip to Haven! Hurray!

**I lurve you all!**


	2. Aurum Potestas Est

Here's chapter two! It's a little more exciting, yet we're still not quite there _yet._ Sorry if Foaly is a little out of character. He's particularly hard to do. Also, if anyone is interested in being a beta for this story, please send me a message. :)

Also, thankyou to those who reviewed! It meant a great deal to me, you cannot even fathom my appreciation.

**REMEMBER: READ and REVIEW! PLEASE!**

**Disclaimer: I still do not own anybody, except those minor characters that you've never heard before.**

**Chapter Two: **Reality Specs X

_"Now, you must be dying to see my invention."_

Foaly opened the door to the Ops Booth and led the group inside. Poor Butler had to squat down in order to avoid hitting his head against the ceiling. Foaly pulled out a couple of rolling chairs and sat on his own customized centaur-friendly chair.

"So, Grub have you fetched my fresh Norwegian carrots yet?" Foaly asked casually.

Grub pulled out the bag of carrots he was holding and handed them to Foaly, who greedily opened them and started munching, not even muttering a word of thanks. Artemis could see that his horse friend had large bags around his eyes and his tinfoil hat, which he usually always wore, was tilted slightly and looked rather comical. Artemis could tell by his weary eyes and constant yawning that Foalyhad indeedbeen working all night on his game for the competition.

"I'm actually quite curious, Mud Weasel, are you actually familiar with game consoles? Do you actually play games or do you consider them all beneath you?" Foaly asked while plucking a peculiar shaped carrot from out of the bag.

Artemis considered for a few seconds, "I play a few games…or used to. I actually don't find the time to play said games anymore. If you mean, have I ever actually programmed a game then, no…the field of entertainment is such a waste of time." Artemis stated taking great interest in looking at his perfectly manicured fingernails.

"I've been programming some role-playing games since kindergarten. In my spare time that is. And this year, I'm taking my entire week off into working on one of the best games out there. Just last month, I invented a brand new fairy console, the Reality Specs X, or RSX. It's quite impressive, here I'll show you…" Foaly led the group towards asmall tablewhere rested right on top, were what seemed like Hi-tech sunglasses. Suddenly, a door opened from inside the Ops Booth (presumably the bathroom) and out stepped in Mulch Diggums with a large smile on his face.

"Good to see you, Artemis! I thought I heard your voice." Mulch said cheery as usual.

"Good to see you too, Mulch. Still legit?"

"Unfortunately…" Mulch turned this time to Juliet, "Hiya Stinker."

"Sup, Smelly." Juliet responded. Mulch waved at Butler who was now tired from squatting and resorted to sitting on the floor. "Nice to see you, Mulch." Said Butler respectfully. Mulch nodded, "I know. I'm such a loveable and charming kind of guy."

"Creature more like." Butler retorted.

Their welcoming conversation was cut off short by Foaly's sudden coughing fit.

"Grub! What kind of carrots are these?"

"Um…orange?"

"Oh really, cause I thought they were _purple_. Grub, I asked you for Norwegian carrots! Where did you get these?"

"Downtown Haven super market…Oh, I'm so sorry, Foaly! But Commander Root wouldn't let me go above ground just to get some carrots. He says all the shuttles are booked and it should be reserved for emergencies only."

Foaly muttered a word of 'this is an emergency' but was drowned by the ringing laughing sounds of Holly, Juliet, and Mulch. Holly was propped up on a computer desk and was having a hard time standing up. Juliet had tears in her eyes, and Mulch was just rolling around on the floor. Artemis smirked, but otherwise stayed as emotionless as ever, and Butler neither laughed nor moved, but his amusement was shown very clear in his eyes.

Foaly shrugged them off and motioned Fowl to follow him towards the television set, where he picked up the hi-tech looking sunglasses. Artemis knew that fairy technology was decades ahead of human technology, and he very much admired all of Foaly's inventions and was probably the only person above and below this Earth who was actually interested (and understood) his lectures.

"Holly's probably already told you about the competition. Most competitors are discouraged to go up against myself, totally understandable. Nevertheless some see it as a challenge. Fairies from all over, enter the competition, even all the way from Atlantis. Every year there is a certain theme. Last year, I entered my Retimager. Won first prize. Now, because of my brilliant Reality Specs, the theme this year is to program a new game to go with the console."

"How does the console work?"

"I'm glad you asked, Mud boy." Foaly picked up the hi-tech sunglasses and held it out towards Artemis.

"The RSX uses electrodes attached to the temple tips of the specs whichsends outEEGs to measure all vitals and brain waves, such as heart rate and muscle activity. For instance, while wearing one of these, you can walk around, and the RSX will be able to measure your movements and directions and thus you'd be moving the exact same way in the game."

"Clever." Artemis nodded as he took all the information in.

"Why, thank you. It is completely designed for brain wave patterns, so all you really have to do is think it, and you'll be doing so in the game. Sort of like a daydream of some sort. It is powered by lithium batteries that can last for about a whole week straight without recharging. Now, notice the hi-tech lenses? The games are designed to slide in where the lenses should go. On the outside it just looks like a bunch of really hi-tech equipment and programming, on the inside though, you are basically watching the game through your own eyes. It is even able to see other players, based on where they are in the game. To get out of the game, all you have to do is take the RSX off, I've even programmed it to automatically shut off once you've finished the game, so you can enjoy a little victory dance. The best thing about these is that they are extremely lightweight. Almost as if you aren't wearing them at all. And they have the added bonus of being portable."

"All very great, but if the electrodes are receiving and measuring such brain activity, won't the electric impulses damage the brain?"

"The RSX is a relatively new development, it is not out in markets as of yet, since we are still testing it, but it is 97.8 percentsafe, as the electrodes in no way interferes with the brain. Or at least, I've been testing on Mulch, and he doesn't seem to be reacting to it…it'd be pretty hard to tell, I suppose."

"Hey!" Mulch yelled deeply offended.

"I see…" Artemis mused, ignoring Mulch. "You know, something like this would be worth millions aboveground…"

"Don't even think about it, Mud boy." Holly cut in sternly.

Artemis ignored Holly as if she wasn't standing in just punching distance of him; after all, Butler was here. His job was to protect Artemis against moral, law-abiding, temperamental species. "So, you've finished your game then?" Artemis asked pointing at the lenses on the RSX.

"Almost. That's why I've called you down. See, the two lenses don't seem to be cooperating with each other, as they should. I'm trying to reprogram peripheral vision and add new features such as zooming in and out, X-ray vision, etc. etc. But every time I try, it seems to be malfunctioning…" Foaly's voice trailed off as he showed Artemis out of the Ops Booth and into his technician's lab. Meanwhile, the others walked off following Mulch to the reception area where there were chairs and a vending machine.

"Poor Foaly, he seems to really be under pressure with this whole competition thing." Juliet sighed, as she flopped down on a miniature armchair. It was rather small for her, as she could only lie as far as her elbows on the arms of the chair, and she had to stretch her legs out in front of her. Butler couldn't even sit down in one, afraid that he would break something, so he settled in sitting down on the floor uncomfortably and very much annoyed.

"Foaly is just excited about his 300th win, that's all…mind you, he hasn't won yet. He's being awfully overconfident." Trouble Kelp said.

"For someone who's always said, 'Confidence is ignorance' he sure is a hypocrite." Holly put in. Mulch belched rather loudly and plopped down on Juliet's lap much to her disgrace.

"Geroffme! Oh…PU, you stink!" Juliet groaned, struggling to push Mulch off her lap. Butler narrowed his eyes at Mulch and gave him the death glare. Mulch simply gulped and picked himself up. Scrambling off to hide behind Holly. There were few things that actually scared the pants off the dwarf; one of those things was the manservant himself. There was just something very incriminating with his size and bulk, and his merciless eyes…

"I just feel terrible for you two," Holly sighed, "Having to go all the way down here and put off with Mulch. It's not even an emergency or situation, just Foaly and his stupid determination in winning."

"Don't feel bad, Holly. It's better than having nothing to do and I for one have never been in Haven before. It's quite a cool experience, there's so much to see." Juliet said cheerfully.

"And if I may say so myself, it's always good to meet up with close friends, especially after a long time without seeing each other." Butler added.

"I just wish there was a way we could get back at Foaly, for getting on all our nerves." Holly mumbled more to herself than out loud.

"Yeah, like pull off some super awesome prank!" Grub Kelp squealed and rubbed his hands together, "That would show him not to mess with me!"

Trouble and Holly both rolled their eyes, "Foaly is not stupid. Any attempt in pranking him would backfire, or else he'd try to prank us. And we definitely don't want that, Foaly has a very shrewd sense of humor."

Out of nowhere, Mulch snorted and started laughing, slapping his knees continuously with tears streaming out of his tawny eyes.

"Would you like to let us in on the joke, Mister Diggums?" Trouble asked curiously.

"I just…" more fits of laughter from Mulch, "Sorry…I just pictured Foaly's face when it turns out that he loses the competition!" Mulch was now rubbing his stomach from the pain, "After all that hard work!" Mulch quickly wiped the tears from his eyes, "And he was _so_ confident in winning!" After seeing the blank faces on everyone's face he sighed, "Just daydreaming here, geez. It was a funny thought."

"That would be incredibly sweet, now that you mention it. I would be right there to take a picture of his face, and keep it forever. I'd use it to torment him every year on the day of the competition. Then he wouldn't be able to ask anything of me!" Holly sighed dramatically.

Trouble chuckled absentmindedly and Grub Kelp nodded his head, "If only that were possible. Foaly is like…the smartest fairy in the world!"

Then, as if light bulbs clicked on, everyone smirked and turned to look at a certain Mud Boy now coming into the room with a successful look on his face. After seeing everyone's head turned towards him, he frowned. All faces in the room were trained on him, and Holly had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"May I help you?" Artemis Fowl, criminal mastermind, and boy genius asked the occupants of the room.

Artemis Fowl is hardly ever afraid. Even when he is in life dangerous situations, he always managed to remain calm. His philosophy on fear is to always approach it rationally, as panicking can put the situation out of control, and is not going to help you in the slightest. Artemis wasn't exactly _afraid_ now, but he stepped inside the room rather cautiously…

There was something intimidating when all eyes are on you, and everyone is looking at you with a goofy ear-to-ear smile. Worse, was the fact that Artemis hadn't a clue what any of them were thinking…only Grub Kelp seemed to look as confused as he was, mind you –Artemis didn't show it.

"Actually," Holly began dragging out each syllable nice and slow as if considering what she was going to say next. "We were thinking…"

Artemis raised his eyebrow curiously. He wanted to input a sarcastic comment like, '_Really? That's a surprise' _or '_Could've fooled me' _etc. etc. but he knew that saying so would only result in an interruption and that's exactly what Holly was looking for. So instead, he waited patiently for Holly to continue.

"About the LEATC, we were thinking how Foaly completely doesn't deserve to win." Holly finished. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, "He's just got a huge head and he does this every year, it's driving us crazy! Only, we know that no one else has a chance at winning against Foaly!"

"The biggest competition we've seen was about 20 years back, when Opal entered. It was very close, but Foaly managed to win in the end. Mostly, because nobody liked Opal." Trouble Kelp added.

"So," Mulch began, "We were wondering, if you would enter the competition and win! That'll definitely show Foaly." Mulch grinned, and when Mulch grinned, all his teeth are shown. Holly and Juliet made a puppy dogface, and Butler and Trouble gave him the thumbs-up.

Artemis wasn't impressed. "Not interested."

"Oh come on! Just imagine the look on Foaly's face when he loses!" Mulch bellowed.

"We'll take pictures! I'll even send one to you so you can keep it as your desktop." Holly pleaded.

Artemis shook his head, "I've never programmed a game before and I think –"

"So you can't do it?" Holly smirked.

Artemis glared at her and crossed his arms, "Oh, I have no doubts I can make one, and I could win too –"

"So what's the problem?" asked Major Kelp.

"Well first, it's _Lower Elements' _competition. For _fairies_. Last time I checked, I wasn't a short, green-skinned, sprite with pointy ears…"

"The competition is also for _Techies._ And _Genii. _The rules say, all which are capable can enter. That applies to you, Mud boy so no excuses." Mulch beamed, proud at his loophole.

"Plus, you're a friend to the People now. And you would be greater liked if you can beat Foaly at his own game." Holly added.

"The competition starts in a week. I simply don't have the time…" Artemis interjected.

"We can help you! Anything you'd need, we can get it for you. Just…don't take it to extremes Mud boy, we're not getting you Norwegian carrots or anything." Holly handed Artemis a small communicator, "So we keep in touch. And you can tell us any updates on the game."

"Holly, I've never said I was going to do it."

"Oh yes you will. See, Trouble Kelp and I can gather some LEP men, and we can set up a time-stop on Fowl Manor. So you can't say anything about time. There. Simply no more excuses."

There was no need to convince Artemis Fowl any further. He had already accepted the challenge, but he put up the show just to see what resources would be available to him…and now he has the fairies' help. Artemis had no doubt he could design and programa game to beat Foaly in just a week. And he himself had to admit, beating Foaly would be nice…

Artemis looked up at Butler who smiled at him and nodded in approval. Artemis knew that Butler just wanted him to be occupied, if at least temporary, so he wouldn't go off on another criminal venture. Artemis didn't want to disappoint Butler or his parents…

"You should do it, Arty. I'll definitely play it!" Juliet said.

Artemis nodded and finally the tension in the room was released to be followed with excitement as Artemis said, "Alright…I'll do it."

Everyone erupted into cheers, and Holly hovered up into the air and punched upwards with her right hand. "Yes! Foaly's going down!" She cheered.

"I know you can do it, Fowl. I have full confidence in you. Trubs too, right Trubs?" Grub Kelp asked his olderbrother who was standing right next to him. Major Trouble Kelp nodded. "If you need any help from us, just contact Holly. We'll be going now, _Mister_ Foaly needs a hoof massage." Trouble muttered and left the room, with Grub Kelp following, a horrified look on his face.

A full day had passed since Artemis entered the competition. It was Captain Holly Short who had entered his name for him, according to her, the judges seemed quite perplexed, but they couldn't argue that the rules didn't say anything about forbidding Mud men to enter. And so now, Fowl was in the competition. Mulch set it upon himself into bribing the other hosts and judges into not revealing Fowl's name. Mulch wanted to see the full impact on Foaly's face, and therefore it must all be a surprise. Meanwhile, Mulch was hosting bets.

"10 pounds ofFairy gold, Foaly loses the competition." Mulch said, in an uncertain manner. Of course, this was only an act.

"Oh your so on, Mister Diggums. In fact, let's shake on it!" A rather unpleasantly smelly dwarf named Rocko said, and shook hands with Mulch, where it was official.

"Hmm, I dunno…" The other dwarf (who's name was Burt) replied, "You're one of the judges aren't you Diggums?"

"Doesn't matter. He can't make a decision on his own. Besides, Foaly invented the RSX himself, he has an advantage. Not that he needs another one." Rocko muttered.

"Don't worry guys, I swear, I'll judge fair. I swear on my dwarf hair." Mulch replied earnestly.

"Oh this will be good. You're on Mulch! And there better not be a loophole!" Burt chuckled, he felt sympathy for Mulch. Ever since he'd gotten straight, he had been acting rather recklessly and crazy. He felt terrible for taking advantage of him, but 10pounds was a lot…

Mulch however was inwardly dancing and thinking of what he'd buy with all the gold.

Back at Fowl Manor however, Artemisrubbed his temples for any occurring ideas. He had no idea what the fairies' interests in video games were. He knew that humans liked to shoot things and blow things up –which generally Artemis detested because the effects were so unrealistic and he found the idea very cliched. But he doubted whether the fairies were into violence. After all, they were rather peaceful creatures.

Artemis sighed and picked up his lab top, which was always within arms reach from him. Five minutes later, he successfully hacked into Foaly's database and was now looking at Fairy articles for recent games and reviews of said games. Artemis found an article about Foaly's brand new Reality Specs X, which should be released sometime this year,according to the article.There were many comments on how gamers were completely excited about the new console and eagerly awaiting the results of the LEATC, where the winning game will also be released on the same day.

Artemis fished through Foaly's entire files on gaming. He found it quite ironic how fairies loved games starring Mud Men in them as bad guys. The fairies also loved Mud Men's folktales and fairytales; apparently they find things like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves hilarious. However, one thing the Fairies did not like was the same notion of completely good and completely evil. Completely blackor completelywhite. Artemis could relate, and he also found it interesting that LEP cop games were quite a bore… the fairies preferred games with more variety, and they liked games with an equal amount of puzzles as there is action. Artemis smirked, the fairies had good tastes.

His research was interrupted when his fax machine beeped. Artemis looked at his watch; it had been merely two hours since he had called Diggums. Artemis needed Foaly's blue prints of the RSX so he could find out everything he needed to know about how the console worked. That way, he could decide the limitations of the game. Artemis got up and picked up the papers from his machine. It was all there…apparently Mulch had stolen them from Foaly's own lab. Artemis smirked, good old Mulch.

Angeline Fowl and Timmy were quite frustrated with their son, and currently eating their dinner just the two of them. Juliet was in the gym working out, saying that she would eat later on, and Butler went to go send Artemis' dinner up to his room. This was three times this week; their Arty had chosen to eat in his room. And he never left his room, if not to go to his lab. Which he never left, unless he had to go to the bathroom. Occasionally, Artemis would make visits to the library or the garden, as he claimed he needed a better place to think…

Angeline just didn't understand it. She tried everything in her power to get Artemis out of his room, but to no avail. She even forced Artemis to come shopping with her, which led Artemis in a terrible temper the whole day. He claimed that he wasted a lot of time, and strangely enough that day seemed to go by a lot slower…almost as if it were eight hours longer… But the point being, Angeline was really upset and worried about her son. He wouldn't even talk to her, his mind just seemed to be on other things. When she demanded an explanation, he gave evasive answers such as 'studying' or 'working'.

Timmy held the suspicion that Artemis was working on another '_project' _but when he asked Butler if Artemis had done any criminal deeds, Butler assured him that Artemis hadn't. Butler wasn't one to lie, especially to the Fowl Patriarch. Even still, Timmy had to hear it from his own son, so he knocked on the door and asked if anything was wrong.

"No." was the simple answer.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"No."

"Are you doing anything you're not supposed to?"

"No."

"As in, criminal activities? No matter the intentions…stealing portraits?"

"No."

"Can you say anything other than no?"

"Yes."

Timmy sighed, and gave up right then and there.

"We simply must do something." Angeline protested, she was sitting at the fancy dinner table equipped with a fine linen tablecloth, and rather expansive china. She held a small teacup filled with Earl Gray up to her lips, taking in the delightful and rich scent as she did so. Her hair was tied neatly in a bun, and she wore an elegant gown. It was Sunday after all, and the Fowls always dressed nice on Sunday. On every other day though, when she didn't have visitors and didn't go out, she insisted on wearing much plainer clothes (however still quite expansive), to provide Artemis with a new environment,so maybe then he'll open up more.

Timmy sighed and shook his head thinking, "What can we do? He simply does not want to come out of his room, and the door is bolt shut. Sometimes I wonder what he does in there…"

"Butler says he is working on some kind of invention, and needs peace and quiet."

"Even still, that is no excuse to exclude the family. Maybe that's what we need to do, teach him that family is more important than business." Timmy frowned upon realizing his words, "This is all my fault…In the past I had always told Arty, that business was more important. _Aurum Postestas Est._ I taught him the wrong things…it is completely my fault that he is like this."

Angeline put her hands on top of his own and she gently squeezed on his arm. "Don't blame yourself, Timmy. We cannot live in the past, we must figure out a way to fix this now." She said soothingly. Timmy smiled and gently stroked her cheek. "You're right. _Aurum no solo est postestas."_ **A/N: Gold no longer is power...I'm not quite sure if the added bits are latin though :P**

Late that night, Artemis woke up to the centaur's face on his monitors. Artemis found himself to have fallen asleep straight down on his keyboard. He rubbed his face, which he presumed had little square marks all around it.

"Nice look, Mud boy. Here's some advice…the pillow is the big, white, square thing." Foaly joked sarcastically.

Artemis groaned inwardly, "What do you want Foaly?" He said while gentlyrubbing his cheeks.

"I've just called to informed you that my game is finished. Thank you for helping out Mud boy, maybe I shall send a good 2 percentof the gold profit your way. Anyways, I can see it's rather late, so I shall leave you in peace. Sleep dreams, Fowl, and take heed on my advice." And with that, Foaly's face vanished to be replaced by a blank screen.

Artemis blinked, he had completely forgotten about the prize money. That was a cheerfully added bonus. What was it that Holly had said? _A ton of fairy gold_. Gold. Artemis looked at the far wall of his room where a large plaque hung among the many certificates and degrees he had obtained. The plaque was pure gold and carved in it was the Fowl family motto: _Aurum Postestas Est_. Artemis rubbed his chin with his forefinger, he suddenly found a very great and _ingenius_ idea for his game.

"Gold is power, after all…" And for the rest of the night, the young Fowl worked on the plans for his game.

In exactlyfive days (with an addedtotal of 40 hours, thanks to the time-stop) Artemis was able to design, program, and test his new game. He had constructed a whole virtual world all on his own and finally, he opened a small (yet very complicated) safe that he kept hidden under a floorboard, and he locked his masterpiece inside. When the door clicked shut, he held a satisfied grin. The graphics in the game alone were quite outstanding, even for fairy standards, Artemis set upon illustrating everything by hand (and some digital photo scans) that were in itself quite realistic. Next, came the sound effects. Since he had no time, Juliet and Holly set upon recording the desired sounds on an advanced fairy-recording disk. Juliet quite enjoyed herself as Artemis bought her tickets to go see a wrestling match just to collect sounds. She also went to the Amazon rainforest and took photos and other really famous places. Artemis meanwhile conducted and performed his own piece of music to go along with his game, all of his computer stimulated sounds were used for the rest.

Artemis yawned, satisfied with his week's hard work and he plopped down on his humongous bed, falling fast asleep at last.

**A/N: That's the end of chapter two. Actually, I had chapter two and three combined for this one. So if you found it really long that's why. Okay, so from this point on, it's all action! I'd continue on, but...Arty needs his sleep ;) As for the game console...I know, _I know, _Simmy, how _could_ you come up with a name so cheesy as _Reality Specs X_? Well it was either that or Game Glasses. Bleh. This is why I need a beta. If your interested... :DD Anyways, next chapter- The awaited competition and the results! Dun dun dun, kudos to anyone who can guess who wins. PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. A Winning Streak Broken

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Artemis Fowl series, nor am I making any profit from this except the warm fuzzy feelings I get, after finishing another chapter.**

A/N: Thank you everyone for reviewing! You've made this a whole lot easier and more enjoyable for me. I still need a beta, so if anyone is interested or knows anyone who would like to beta, please let me know. Also, I apologize for this chapter being really short. The next chapter is long enough to make up for it, though. I've really enjoyed writing this one! It was great fun :)

**Chapter Three **A Winning Streak Broken

The day where they announce the winner for the LEATC was finally here. After Foaly had submitted his game, all competitors had to wait around a week before the judges could finally decide. Foaly wasn't the least bit worried. Looking around the room, he saw a lot of amateur technicians and inventors, probably all wearing a rented suit. Foaly snorted at all the wannabees tinkling their glasses and talking _civil_ to their opponents. He knew that it was just a mask; they really all despised each other.

The place where they announced the competition was a rented building just beneath the ground. There was a large stage by the far wall, currently empty, save for a microphone. The security wasn't all that great, although many of theguests who were actually there were in some ways connected to the LEP. It was required that all guests wear something formal for the special occasion, Foaly settled on straightening out his tinfoil hat and wearing a velvet tie around his neck.

What intrigued Foaly the most was how packed the place was. The room was all filled with civilians dying to know the results, _as if they don't already know_. Surprisingly enough, there were many dwarves about, most likely here to collect their money…but Foaly didn't know that. Foaly had just caught side of Holly talking fervently with Major Kelp. Foaly smiled, a grin that stretched across his face. It was probably the first time he had really smiled all month. He trotted over to where Holly was.

"Good evening, Holly…Trouble. Here to help carry my huge trophy?" Foaly asked, trying to act modestly.

Trouble frowned and Holly pulled out a camera from her purse, "Just here to take pictures of the big event. It's the 300th competition isn't it?"

"And my 300th win." Foaly added, "I'm having a huge party right after. You know, to celebrate the winning genius." Foaly took a small bow, "You two are invited, for helping me and all."

Holly and Trouble shared a nervous look. They both possibly did more harm then help, and Foaly hadn't a clue about it. Holly almost regretted the whole thing right then…and it just seemed to get worse.

"I know I was annoying the past few days. I'm not completely ignorant of my behavior." Foaly sighed, this time truly sincere. "The truth was, I felt really bad using you guys like that. I'm sorry, Holly…Trouble. Make sure to pass the word on to Grub and Mulch, because there's no way I'm repeating it." Foaly looked up at the stands, where the judges were grouping together by the microphone, and Mulch Diggums seemed to be pushing everyone so he can have center stage.

"That's why…" Foaly continued, "when I go up there, I'm going to retire from this competition for good. It's just…not as satisfactory winning all the time. And others deserve a chance."

Holly gulped, and was saved more guilt when Commander Root appeared, dressed in a black tux, his face seemed even redder.

"FOALY! AFTER THIS STUPID COMPETITION I WANT YOU IN MY OFFICE, RIGHT NOW!" Root bellowed, all heads turned to the two. Foaly blushed with embarrassment and he whispered, "Not now, Julius. I have a party to host, after the competition. I promise tomorrow, I'm your centaur. But –"

"DON"T CALL ME JULIUS!" Root roared, yanking on Foaly's tie. His face pulsated with anger…and redness.

"Commander!" Holly whispered, Root turned to face Holly, who pointed at the crowd of people snickering behind him. Root grumbled and let go of Foaly, now whispering he said, "I'm sick of this stupid competition! Now we are days behind on our work because of you and your stupid obsession! After this, I'm shutting down the competition for good! Or else, I'm not going to let you enter. And another thing, you better use that ton of gold wisely, because I'm decreasing your budget by 15 percent!"

Foaly didn't even have time to complain or remark because at that moment, two elves named Brenda Oaks and Alden Thatch appeared on the stage. They positioned themselves in front of the other judges, Brenda held a real dazzling smile, most likely they were dentures. Alden though, held a huge envelope, where the winner's name was scribbled inside.

"Welcome, everybody! To the 300th Lower Element's Annual Techies Competition. We are really glad you all could make it here with us to celebrate the winner of the competition. It took us a while to decide, but we think we have fairly chosen a winner." Alden began.

Ms. Oaks quickly took the narrative, "The winner will receive this huge golden trophy –" A gnome/dwarf hybrid appeared on stage, carrying an immense trophy shaped as a computer mouse. "A ton of fairy gold –" this time a sprite appeared flying to the stage carrying a large crate marked _Gold_. "And, their game will be the first released along with Mr. Foaly's new Reality Specs X, game console."

At this the crowd (mostly of young fairies and teenagers) cheered and applauded. Foaly bowed and did a small little tap dance. It was at this point, where Holly rolled her eyes, all sympathy for Foaly forgotten.

"And now…" Mr. Thatch took up, "The winner of the Lower Element's Annual Techies Competition goes to –" The elf struggled with the envelope for a while, but then finally managed to get it opened where a piece of paper had one name written on it.

"ARTEMIS FOWL!"

…

…

…

Nothing could be heard from the crowd but a loud gasp. It was Commander Root who broke the silence. He was laughing so hard; he turned redder than he usually did when he was angry. He even had tears in his eyes. Everyone else finally took the news as true, as it registered in his or her tiny minds. It was the dwarves who reacted next, most of them fainted and groaned. One almost had a heart attack. But all were looking at Mulch Diggums for some odd yet very obvious reason. Finally, Foaly, who had been preparing his speech and smile, frowned and his eyes bulged with great disbelief. Trouble quickly took a picture of his face, where he silently snickered. Meanwhile, Holly still couldn't believe the silence. She took a deep breath and applauded.

"Wooo! GO FOWL!" She shouted, applauding even louder. The competitors who were only glad that Foaly had lost also joined in the clapping. One even cheered 'Boo Foaly!' The next sounds that could be heard was a deep and resonating laughter from the many people who found it quite hilarious that Foaly was beaten by a fifteen year old mud boy. Grub Kelp seemed to have been recording the whole competition and was now pointing the camera at Foaly's still shocked face.

"This is a joke…" Foaly said absentmindedly, his face still unmoving. But sure enough, the young Fowl heir suddenly appeared out of thin air and walked on stage. Some of the crowd noted that he seemed to have been wearing one of Foaly's cam-foil. Brenda and Alden gave Artemis his rewards and the tall mud boy (compared to all the fairies anyways) had to lift the microphone twice as high. Artemis just smirked. Other than that, his face was quite emotionless.

"Thank you." Artemis said, instantly silencing the crowd. "I would first like to thank Captain Holly Short and a few others for encouraging me to enter."

Foaly shot a venom look at Holly, who only smiled and pulled out her camera…

"But I really owe this all to Foaly, who told me all about the competition and precisely how his game console worked. If it weren't for Foaly, I wouldn't have been up here today."

Foaly then silently cursed himself and sent a chilling look towards Artemis.

"Last, I would like to present my game, which I have created all in less than a week. _Gold Is Power_." Artemis held up the golden trophy, "I presume you will all be playing the game soon, well then good luck. It's practically impossible to win." And with that Artemis made a slight bow and walked off stage.

Artemis' challenge on his game proved to have an immediate effect. All the young fairies were completely excited on the game, each with a hope of winning this _impossible_ game. After a few more long and boring speeches from the two elfin hosts, most filed out, except those who remained for the after-party. Foaly included, who was insisting that this had all been a dream. The worse of it were all the 'Congratulations Foaly' posters that he had bought.

"This is a nightmare!" Foaly groaned, "Foiled by my own confidence!" He had wanted to kick himself repeatedly but every time he tried it led to him stumbling over his own legs.

Artemis sat down on the stage floor, his legs hanging off the edge. Behind him, Foaly's favorite band played a tribute to Foaly. The lyrics were quite horrendous, '_Someone you can admire, Just about to retire'_ Honestly. Artemis almost left right there, but the music wasn't _completely_ bad. Actually, they were better than most bands above ground. Juliet seemed to have a great time, as she was dancing with Mulch, which later turned into a conga line, as all the dwarves lined up behind Mulch trying to punch him. Artemis was surprised to see that Holly Short was dancing with Trouble, he reasoned they were pretty close friends, both being on the LEP and having many things in common. And Foaly was seen chasing Grub Kelp screaming something along the lines of '_burn that tape!'_

Artemis sighed, and turned as he saw Butler walking up to him. He took a seat right next to him, holding the '_big'_ trophy, which could practically fit on the palm of Butler's hand.

"What are you going to do with the ton of fairy gold?" His manservant asked casually. Artemis looked thoughtful for a second before he replied.

"I'm not exactly sure. I might invest it, or keep it for a while…I suppose it all depends."

"I like this way better." Butler said ominously.

"What?" Artemis asked, lost in his thoughts.

"I prefer this way in gaining a ton of fairy gold, then the last attempt."

"Oh…yeah. Me too." Butler could've sworn that Artemis had smiled right then, but it was lost to be replaced by his usual expression a second after.

"Your parents would be proud, Artemis. I know I am. And after Foaly calms down, he will be too."

Artemis looked up at Butler, his closest friend. "Thanks, Domovoi." He replied sincerely. His voice awkward and soft. Butler nodded. He knew Artemis meant it. The Eurasian man thought silently to himself, all these years the last word he would describe Artemis to be was a child…but right at this moment, awkwardly admitting his feelings, there wasn't a word more appropriate. Butler hoped, there would be more moments like this in the future. It was a shame it would not be happening in the near future…

**A/N: That was chapter four! I hoped I portrayed Foaly well in this one. I have a very hard time getting Foaly in character…but maybe it's just me being paranoid. This chapter was a bit shorter than the previous ones. But I'll make it up to you, cause the next chapter is a lot longer! Next chapter – Chix makes a special and plot worthy appearance, The fairies and the Butlers are stuck in the game, and Arty gets in _big_ trouble. Now review!**


	4. A Small Malfunction

**Disclaimer: I still do not own anyone!**

Quickest update yet, I think...

A/N: I still need a beta! If anyone is interested PLEASE send me a PM! I promise I don't bite! As for the following chapter, I hope it's plenty long enough for you. There's a bit of action (sorta) and then Arty gets a talking to! Hope you like!

**Chapter Five** A Small Malfunction

When Artemis arrived at Fowl Manor he was surprised to see that his parents had awoken from the mind wipe. They were in the sitting room and seemed to be having a heated discussion. Artemis hesitated before walking straight inside, where their faces automatically turned to look at him. Timmy made himself stand up, slowly mind you, as he was still having difficulties with his prosthetic leg.

"Artemis, where were you? We woke up half an hour ago, and neither you nor Butler, not even Juliet was here. We tried calling you but the call didn't reach. We were beginning to worry."

Artemis sighed, "Don't worry Father, we were just in Germany. I've had a business meeting with an associate of mine, about the invention I mentioned…" Artemis chanced a glance at his mother, who appeared not to have bought this excuse in the slightest. He made to turn back to his room, but before he could leave he heard his father address to him once more.

"We're not finished talking with you, Arty. But I can see you have things to do…that thing in your room has been buzzing like crazy. I don't suppose it's broken, but I think you should have a look at it."

It was lucky he had his back turned to his parents, because right then Artemis' eyes widened in great surprise and he almost lost his composure. He quickly ran up to his room taking the steps two at a time. When he arrived at the door, he found that Butler was already there and he seemed to be looking outside his window.

"Artemis…I think you better invite them all in quick." Butler said.

Artemis nodded, "All fairies present are invited inside." And suddenly, six shapes materialized inside and one, who was already inside swiveled on Artemis' chair.

"Nice chair, Mud boy…does it do massages? Oh…yeah…that's gooood." Mulch drawled.

"What are you all doing in here?" Artemis asked the occupants of the room. Holly Short, Trouble Kelp, Grub Kelp, Commander Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, and Chix Verbil all beamed at Artemis.

"We came, right after the party ended. Foaly wanted to see your game. He says he won't believe it's true, until he sees it." Trouble Kelp replied pointing towards the grumpy centaur.

"I for one, want to be the first to play the game! Foaly brought some extra specs. So we can all see the acclaimed master piece." Holly smiled. Artemis nodded and walked over to the center of the room, where he lifted up a loose floorboard. Inside it was his safe, where he kept the fairy communicator, and copies of his latest game.

Meanwhile, Chix Verbil was moaning about an upset stomach and was trying (but failing) to get Holly to notice him.

"What's wrong with Chix?" Trouble asked Holly.

"Nothing, just ignore him." Holly whispered back.

"I think I have butterflies in my stomach. I must be falling for you, Holly." Chix replied softly in her ear. Holly pushed Chix away from her, who stumbled and landed on Commander Root.

"CHIX! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

"I'm sorry, Commander. It's jus' my stomach, see it's –"

"Oh, quit complaining, Private. You're worse than Grub. It's probably because of all the food you ate at the party." Root grumbled.

"And Holly's driving sure didn't help." Mulch mumbled.

"There's a bathroom down the hallway and to your left. Just don't puke on the carpet." Butler said. Chix nodded and flew out of the room.

Artemis struggled with the floorboard for a few more minutes and finally pulled out a few copies of the game. "I must warn you, the game is –" Artemis began before Mulch interrupted,

"Impossible to win. We know, we know…but lemme tell you something, there isn't a game out there that's impossible for Mulch!" He puffed out his chest proudly to prove his point. Grub Kelp snorted, he was still quite nervous when Butler was around. Foaly passed around the RSX to everyone in the room. Soon, Holly, Trouble, Grub, Root, Mulch,Butler, and himself all had the new fairy console and game, waiting eagerly to be played. It was at that moment that the door to Artemis' room opened. All the fairies gasped, and quickly turned to shield themselves, only to set off Artemis' vibration alarm.

Luckily, it was Juliet who had opened the door, and the fairies calmed down, unshielding themselves once again.

"Arty, why didn't you tell me you were having a party in here?" Juliet pouted.

"We're just about to play _Arty's_ game." Holly said smiling deviously at Artemis, who glared at the elf for using his pet nickname.

"Oh! I want to play!" Juliet said, taking a Reality Spectacle from Foaly. "Oh, and Artemis, your parents want to speak with you downstairs."

Artemis groaned. He knew it was coming sooner or later, but he had expected it to be later. What he didn't expect was to have the fairies hovering around in his room, criticizing his game, while he had to endure his parent's daily lectures. And to top it all off, if his parents happened to find a fairy flying around in the Manor; it would be a pain to explain. Artemis shrugged it off, he'd just have to keep his parents out of his room at all cost…and if the worst was to happen…well they could be mind-wiped.

Artemis turned to face his visitors, making sure to make eye contact with all of them as he said the next few words. "You are all to stay in this room, at least until I come back." As an afterthought he added, "And you are not allowed to touch or view my lab top or any other personal items that you might find in here, _Foaly._"

Foaly smiled modestly and immediately released Artemis' lab top. Which fell to the floor a moment after.

"Opps!" Foaly said, still quite miffed at losing the competition. Luckily the lab top had not broken, but Artemis wouldn't know, as he was already downstairs.

Angeline and Artemis Sr. had been discussing the recent behaviors of their only son, they simply were confused and very worried. If Artemis really wasn't up to anything wrong or dangerous, what was he doing? And why couldn't he tell them the truth? Artemis was a good liar, something he learned from observing his father. Timmy felt as if he was to be blamed from everything his son did wrong. Well…Timmy reasoned, there was only one thing left to do. He had to teach Artemis that family always comes first. He has to go against everything he had taught Artemis previously, and for once…simply become a father. Timmy sighed; he never had a good father himself. And he didn't want Artemis to say the same about him.

Timmy's thoughts were interrupted as his son entered the room; he looked to be rather exhausted yet excited about something. But, he hid it very well. Timmy couldn't be too sure.

"Father. Mother." Artemis greeted. Said father and mother shared a glance at each other and finally turned towards their son. Their faces were grave, serious…

"Artemis Fowl…" His father began. Artemis inwardly winced, this was worse than Holly or Juliet calling him 'Arty'. When his father called him by his full name, things were not good. Artemis had to rack his brains before he could figure out what could be wrong. _Ah…_He thought after a few seconds, _dinner. I've missed dinner for the past few days, because I was working on the game._

"The past couple of days you have been acting disrespectfully..."

"I'm truly sorry, Father. I assure you that I will not let this happen again."

Angeline and Timmy half-smiled. But their decisions were already made.

"Thank you, Arty. However, I don't think we can dismiss the issue this quickly." Angeline said sorrowfully, "We feel that it is best, if we bestow proper punishment."

Artemis felt his jaw drop half an inch. Punishment? _Punishment?_ Since when did his parents ever give him…punishment? Artemis couldn't understand. What else could he have done to result to this? Artemis could hardly believe it…well, he thought, what possibly could they do? Artemis smirked inwardly, as he calculated all the plausible possibilities his parents could come up with. It's not as if they could _ban_ him from his lab top. Artemis could think up 103 different ways around that.

"What kind of punishment?" Artemis quietly asked.

"Starting, tomorrow morning, we're going on a vacation." Angeline responded.

Artemis cocked an eyebrow, taken in complete surprise. A _vacation?_ All possibilities that he listed in his head previously were immediately shattered and dismissed. The only thing he could think of to explain this statement was that his parents were extremely new to the idea of parenting.

"A vacation? You're going to punish me for devotedly working, by giving me a vacation. Genius." Artemis said rather sarcastically.

"You do not talk to your parents in that way, Artemis. And we're not punishing you for _devotedly_ working, as you put it." Artemis Senior scolded, "I believe you recall, when you told us that you were away on a business meeting with an associate of yours? Have you lied to us?"

Artemis bit his tongue. He looked up at his father, trying to read his expression, trying to see if there was any clue in his face that might give himself away. But to no avail. Artemis Sr. was just as good, perhaps even better, than Artemis was at hiding his emotions. Artemis knew, that if he said 'no.' he would be lying. And that could just leave him into further trouble. If he told the truth, and said yes, he would have to explain himself. And given the late hour, he was in no condition to think up of a good enough excuse with so many things in his mind, and it didn't help that his parents were suspicious of him, and watching him ever so closely.

"No." Artemis replied, timing it perfectly. He knew that if he had said it too early or hesitated a moment longer, it could be easily seen as a lie. But if his father knew something, which he probably did, then he was foiled either way he answered the question. If his father didn't know something, it was best to be safe.

"I see…" Artemis Sr. looked disappointed at his son. The tone of his voice wasn't anger or frustration…it was sorrow. Artemis preferred the former.

"Because I had called up all of your contacts in that area. All of my associates as well, and neither of them recall you ever being present."

Angeline spoke next, her eyes watery with tears that haven't yet fallen. "Why did you lie to us, Arty?" she spoke softly.

Artemis sighed. What else could he do, but be honest for once? "I can't tell you where I was, or what I was doing these last couple of days. But I assure you, that it is nothing dire."

"How could we trust you?" The Fowl patriarch asked. Artemis wished he were angry with him. He wished his father would just scream or yell at him, he hated his father being disappointed in him.

"You're just going to have to trust me."

His father sighed, rubbing his temple with his forefinger. "Don't you see, why we have to punish you now, Arty? You do not seem to understand the consequences of your actions, despite your high IQ. It is true, that I do not know if you did anything bad or not, but I do know that you have not completely given up on the idea of being a criminal, even after all the lectures we give. I know more than anyone, that the thrill of it all is just completely worth the risk, and I know that you have not yet been caught, and given your intelligence you probably won't be caught. Sooner or later though, your actions will catch up to you…Look what happened to me." Timmy's voice had been soft, and now Angeline was truly crying. The sight of it, made Artemis' stomach clench.

"Artemis. You must understand, your intentions are good. Before, I was happy about it, it was a good first step. I thought you were really about to change, and I understand that it would take a long time for you to let go completely. But it doesn't seem that you are. You have isolated yourself from us, you are lying to us, and you have gone somewhere without our knowledge and had us worried sick! Worst of all, you have sedated us, so you can pull off whatever it was you've done, without our knowledge, and if something has driven you to do that, then it must be bad."

Artemis was frozen stiff. _Sedated?_ Suddenly, the mind wipe rushed to his mind. Holly had said she had mind wiped her parents into falling asleep for the next 24 hours…they must have thought, he had sedated them, somehow into falling asleep! Artemis groaned, things were not looking good. He was being overcome with guilt, he badly wanted to argue…to tell his parents what he was really doing, but he knew he couldn't, and it bugged Artemis to a great extent.

"We only want what's best for you, son. So we have decided to go to stay with Angeline's sister for a couple of days. You remember her right? She came here nearly ten years ago around Christmas day. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning, so I suggest you go to your room to pack and don't even think about bringing your lab top…or any technology for that matter."

Artemis' jaw dropped for the second time that day, "No technology? Father, that's a bit extreme…"

"Your father's right, Arty. We only want what's best for you. Tell Butler and Juliet, that they have this entire week off."

"But –mother! Who's to look after me then?"

"I think we're perfectly eligible _and_ capable of looking after our own son." Timmy replied haughtily, "I know it's…new. We haven't been what normal families would consider close, have we?"

"Which is why this is a perfect opportunity to get to know each other and become a perfectly normal family, for once." Angeline added, she smiled towards her son, "It's not that bad, Arty. You've been let off easy…"

"No Butlers? No technology?" Artemis twitched. "Your kidding…?"

Angeline and Timmy both shook their heads, grinning at their son in amusement. They were looking forward to this trip. It would give the family a chance to bond and experience normal lives for once. Their son, however, was completely losing it. Timmy almost felt sorry for him. Angeline was only too happy that their _punishment_ was really seen like punishment in their son's eyes.

"This is all a hallucination…" Artemis concluded. He then looked up at his parents and placed his hand on each of their foreheads. "Or maybe you two are getting a fever. Perhaps mother is losing her sanity again…"

Angeline smiled, "Artemis, we are completely serious. Absolutely no technology!"

It took a while for Artemis to register the fact. He had lived all his life with technology. His entire life was based on technology and technology has saved him in more than one occasion. What if something were to happen to him over there! In the middle of nowhere! How could he go about then, without the Butlers or technology? How could anyone _live_ without technology? Artemis shuddered at the notion, as a list of all the technology he used daily went through his mind.

"And just to show you that we aren't kidding, I have already packed your bags. So don't even think about hiding something in there. It's stuffed with the new, less formal clothing I bought you, don't pout Artemis! We're going off to the mountains; your suits can easily get ruined there, and don't argue with me, young man! People over there aren't as fortunate as we are, they could get intimidated by our arrival, if we are to show up looking like we normally do."

Artemis groaned, "There is no need for this! I can easily bypass your rules…and you will be thanking me for it later."

Timmy frowned. "After all you have done, you could at least feel guilty enough to respect our rules. If we let you bring your lab top on this trip, you will no doubt spend your entire week with your nose stuck to the screen. And it just wouldn't be punishment, would it? You will thank _us _for it later. But, you're right, I have no doubt you probably could and will bypass our rules. So as of right now, empty your pockets." Timmy instructed.

Artemis mentally slapped himself, he had no choice but to oblige. Absentmindedly, he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and his PDA, which he handed to his mother's outstretched hand. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out some very hi-tech sunglasses, which he immediately stuffed back inside his coat pocket.

"What was that?" Timmy asked curiously examining his son's PDA, all the while wondering how his son could get the newest, unreleased, model, whereas he himself had tried and failed.

Artemis recovered instantly and quickly, yet very believably said, "A pair of sunglasses. I'm rather sensitive to sun, you know. Are they considered _technology_ too? Because I suppose I might as well hand over my toothbrush, my diary, and my shoelaces as well…"

"No. They're okay. For heaven's sake, Artemis…it's only for a week."

Artemis groaned all the while dreading the whole experience. He almost fainted right there on the spot as the deranged mental image of himself going Amish popped into his mind.

As the events were going on downstairs, Chix got better quite quickly, and excitedly flew back inside Artemis' room with a cup of water in his hands. He found everyone to be sitting down on a chair, each one wearing the RSX and looking absolutely still. They looked almost as if their minds had been wiped or something…the statement brought naughty thoughts to the Private's head. He hovered around Holly Short who seemed to be wearing a smile on her face.

"What is it, Holly, sweetheart? Happy to see, that I've come back for you?" Chix quietly daydreamed to himself for a few seconds.

"I've always known you loved me. I'm jus' a modest sprite, yup. I think it's the wings and my charming personality," Chix chuckled to himself, "You know how it is with you ladies. Or perhaps my dashing good looks." Chix looked down towards the peaceful Holly and noticed Trouble was seated right next to her. His hand was right on top of the Captain's and Chix almost choked with anger.

"Oh, I see how it is! You've been cheatin' on me with another man?" Chix glared cruelly at Trouble Kelp. "He is not your type. Jus' another momma's boy, like 'is brother." Chix mumbled other rude things about Trouble Kelp and even started to beg Holly to dump this _excuse for an officer _as Chix put it.

Chix didn't even seem to realize that Holly nor Trouble were registering any of this. If Chix had known a little more about science and precisely how the Reality Specs worked, he would've known that Holly hadn't the slightest clue Chix was there. The electrodes in the Reality Specs were only sending her brain signals for the game. She had no idea what was happening outside the game. Chix seemed to be taking her ignorance a tad bit personal.

"Oh, I see…ignoring, poor ol' Chix. Well, I'll have you know, Holly. It would've never worked between us…you see…there was someone else…" Chix sighed melodramatically. Then turned to look at Trouble…

"Trouble. What kind of name is that? Honestly. A bit too egotistical if you ask me." Chix then saw the smug look on Trouble's face. "You want a piece of me, bub?" Chix eyed his hand, which was still on Holly's. "Keep your paws off her, you sicko!" Chix laid the glass of water he had been holding on the floor and made to pry Trouble's hand away from Holly's. He pulled on his arm…and pulled…and pulled. Eventually he resorted to biting and even kicking at the Major's arm. Poor Trouble hadn't registered any of this, for his brain was completely focused on another reality…

Finally, Chix managed to pull his hand away with such force it sent Chix tumbling towards the floor and spilling his glass of water all over the marble floor… Suddenly the room exploded with stray sparks and electrical surges. Chix dove on the ground, only to get himself electrocuted, and coughed as smoke filled the air. His body felt oddly tingly, he made to fly towards the door (for Artemis hadn't given him the order to stay in the room) but when he grabbed the doorknob his hand received about a hundred jolts, the worse part was his inability to pull away…

Artemis mumbled silently to himself with each step he took. His parents sent him off to bed, for they will be leaving with an early start tomorrow morning. Artemis' plan of action was simply to dismiss the fairies from his house and just _get over the fact that he will be stranded in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no technology and no Butlers, with only company of his superstitious and completely idiotic aunt and uncle who insist on calling him everything other than his name! _Artemis sighed, trying to calm himself. It was only a week…he could live with that. And well, it can't get any worse…wrong as it happens.

The moment Artemis reached his doorway he realized something had gone horribly wrong. The hairs on his arm and the few on the back of his neck instantly shot straight up. A normal person would dismiss the feeling, but not someone as highly attentive as Artemis. His hand hovered above the doorknob, feeling a tingly feeling. _Electricity…_ His mind thought. He felt the cool of the wooden door and something else too…vibrations inside. Artemis quickly strided off to the bathroom where he opened a cupboard door. He shoved aside the shampoo bottles, hair gel, toothpaste, and pills and pulled out what he came for…

Running back in the direction of his room he opened the doorknob, completely safe from the electric shock as his hands were protected with rather thick rubber gloves. On the other side of the door was Chix Verbil, whose hair stuck out in odd angles. After Artemis had swung the door open, Chix flung across the room and impacted with the wall. The worse of the electrical surges had now subsided…

Artemis quickly surveyed his room. An obvious question on his mind, _What happened here?_ He viewed the spilled water and his fried lab top in pieces on the floor. _I'm going to kill Foaly. _Then he saw the row of chairs with six people occupying them, their faces completely blank and unmoving, almost as if they were zombies. Each of them had a pair of the RSX on and was in all probability playing the game. Artemis concluded that their minds had no way of knowing what could have happened…a _huge_ error as it happens.

Artemis' eyes then shifted towards the chairs they were sitting on. The chairs were all quite close to each other and the arms of the chairs all seemed to be touching; the final piece of the puzzle was the legs of the chairs themselves. Made of metal.

Artemis' mind instantly knew what had happened then. He replayed the sequence of events back into his mind.

After he had left, the others were rather eager in playing the game, and so set up a row of chairs and put on the Reality Specs, where the electric charges might've strayed and lingered around the metal chairs… Chix had returned from his trip to the bathroom and was carrying a glass of water, which he spilled. Thus the water and empty glass on the floor. The electric charges on the legs of the chair had contact with the water on the floor. Water being a conductor, seemed to have shocked Chix and caused all this chaos.

Artemis noticed the lines of blue around the bodies of those wearing the RSX. _An electrical current…_Thought Artemis. _That's not good…their bodies can get fried.._ He watched as deeper shades of blue appeared on the fairies' bodies. _Healing magic…_Artemis concluded. It works automatically…and following the electrical charges, the healing magic strayed to heal Butler and Juliet as well…

He turned to look at Chix, who was now healed thanks to his own magic. "What's going on?" Chix asked Artemis. Artemis wanted to blame Chix for this whole thing. Now, on top of this whole dilemma, his friends are being fried by the electrical current. But Artemis knew it was probably all an accident.

"The Reality Specs are sending very strong electrical charges to the brain, and thanks to these metal chairs they chose to sit in, to their bodies as well." Artemis summarized.

"Oh no! What are we goin' to do?" Chix asked hopelessly.

"I don't know…but their bodies are not responding. Their brains are completely unaware of everything happening outside the game, thanks to the fake signals they're getting from the game…"

"Can't we jus' take 'em off, then?"

"No! It's too risky. We can get shocked ourselves. And even if we wear a rubber suit, the RSX are not designed to be taken off without the players' knowing…"

"Whaddyoumean?"

Artemis rubbed his temple, annoyed by Chix' speech and ignorance for proper grammar.

"The brain is a complex organ. It sends electrical impulses to all parts of your body so that it can function the way it does. The RSX is meant to send such signals to the brain itself and fool it into thinking that what it's seeing in the game is real. In other words, Holly thinks that whatever is happening to her in the game right now, is actually happening to her. The brain no longer sees the outside world, it is ignorant of what is going on around her. It is practically like her mind is in the game itself, whereas her body is right here. We cannot simply take them off, as that will provide complications."

Chix blinked, looking completely blank. He was even more confused now then ever. Artemis groaned in frustration. He thought he had explained it simply enough.

"Look. If we or anyone else takes the RSX off, it could result in permanent brain damage. Or worse! The possibilities are endless…however all of them lead to the same thing: Which is bad! Very bad for them!"

"Couldn't they take the RSX off themselves then?" Chix asked.

"Yes. That seems to be the only way, that and winning the game. Foaly had said the RSX would automatically shut off once the game is won. The dilemma is, my game is impossible to beat."

"So, we have to contact them, somehow?"

"Yes." Artemis sat on his bed in the meditating position. "They don't know what is currently happening to them… we have to give them the message, and the only way to do that, is through the game."

Chix looked wide-eyed at Artemis. "D-do you m-mean me? I have to do it?" He stuttered.

"It's the only way. I'd do it myself, but I have to leave tomorrow and won't be back till a few days. That –and a certain…well complication of me appearing in the game…well never mind, you probably wouldn't understand. You have to go in the game and find the others. Then you have to tell them to remove the RSX. You already know to remove yours if anything were to happen." Artemispulled outthe communicator Holly had given him. Then, (safely protected by his rubber gloves) he reached towards Holly's own communicator, which was strapped to her belt.

"If anything else happens, just contact me through the communicator."

Chix gulped and then saluted, "Aye, aye, Sir!"

Artemis handed Chix his own Reality Specs X as well as his rubber gloves. Then he looked inside his closet where he pulled out some old (and never worn) rubber boots and his hideous yellow rain coat, also made of rubber (which he outgrew and hasn't worn since he was, like 5.)

"The rubber acts as an insulator against the electrical current. You should be fine if you wear these." Chix nodded, quickly putting on the boots and coat.

"One more thing. There are quite a few short cuts you can take throughout the first few levels of the game, but after that you are on your own." Artemis looked through his desk drawer and pulled out a single piece of paper with writing on it.

Chix quickly read through it a few times until he finally memorized it.

"Well…here I go." And with that he put on the Reality Specs, where his body instantly froze and he turned to look just as much as a zombie as the rest of them.

Artemis sighed. Not sure that he could trust Chix into finding any of the others (especially if they reach the later levels) Artemis set it upon himself to stay up the rest of the night to execute Plan B.

He locked his room and headed for his laboratory. Where a prototype of his game could be found. Without a moment's hesitation he set to work. Reprogramming a few things in the game. The good thing about the lenses in the RSX is that the games are all interconnected and sort of works much like the Internet in ways like players being able to communicate and see other players. So, if Artemis were to change and reprogram a few things in one game, the specified thing being changed will occur in all the other games as well. Artemis had first thought this was rather genius and was now thinking this to be useful and convenient.

The sun soon started to rise and Artemis who had worked all throughout the night in changing a few things in his game was rather tired and badly needed sleep. But he finally finished and was about to doze off when he heard his mother calling him from downstairs.

"Arty! Time to leave!"

Artemis grumbled, another day without sleep.

**A/N: -phew- I'm so glad that's over. I find this chapter to be the most difficult to write (so far) because of all the technical things and plot holes I kept stumbling in. I hope it makes sense to everyone. And if it doesn't, just review anyways and tell me what part confused you, I'll gladly explain it to you through email. I tried to make it all sound as realistically as possible, actually the theory makes sense to me, scientifically. But then again, all I have is a freshman education on the concept of electricity and all that jazz xD Well…it is science fiction. As for the next chapter – The Fowls arrive at their destination (to Artemis' horror) and the others are in level 1 of the game. Also, I shall have the next chapter up by Friday.**


	5. At the End of the Rainbow

**Disclaimer: No…I still do not own them, besides my OC's obviously.**

**A/N: I just wanted to say that I changed my mind on the Artemis/OC romance in this story. Instead, I'm going to write a Novel Length Artemis/OC right after I finish this one :) Hope I havent disappointed people, but it's better this way.**

(takes out cauldron) Now lesse…add some extra descriptions. Add a hint of minor characters, then dump a bowl of action. Just a dash of a twist, and mix it all together! And…viola! Chapter Six. Took me about a week to make…err write. And that's not including the revision and editing (btw: still need a beta!) So enjoy :D

Chapter Six The End of the Rainbow 

Holly Short remembered herself being at Fowl Manor where her friends had eagerly put on their Reality Specs and soon after she found herself here. Where ever here was…

"Where are we?" Holly asked wearily, for some reason her head was throbbing in pain. Holly blinked the sleepiness from her eyes, as she gazed at her surroundings. They were in the middle of a large field, which stretched out miles and miles ahead of them. It seemed to be midday, as she saw the sun directly above her and the sky was a clear blue. There was even a bright and shimmering rainbow stretching as far as the eye could see, and across the silent and bare landscape Holly could make out some mountains.

"We're in the game." Foaly replied, awestruck at the scenery around him. "I can't believe that Mud Kid! The graphics are incredible…and lifelike." He said as a virtual butterfly fluttered over to him. "I could hardly tell this was a game at all."

Foaly's words dawned on them when all realization hit them. Grub Kelp looked around with a foolish smile on his face. "This is the _impossible_ game he was talking about! It hardly seems like a threat to me. I thought there would be trolls and monsters!" Grub whimpered at the thought.

Commander Root looked around at everyone's faces. None of them seemed to be wearing their Reality Spectacles. He reached to touch his face where the glasses should've been, but when his hand felt his skin, it confirmed his thoughts.

"Are you sure we're _viewing_ a game, and not _in_ the game ourselves, Foaly?" The Commander asked.

Butler, who had been listening in on the conversation looked up at the centaur with a worried glance. He too couldn't feel the RSX at all…

"Of course I'm sure. See that?" Foaly pointed towards the only tree around, an oak tree with many acorns scattered underneath its shade. The leaves and branches of the tree seemed to be swaying in an easterly direction, blown by the wind itself. The quiet crackling of the leaves and gentle rattling was very realistic indeed. Holly would've mistaken it for a real tree if it weren't for one thing…

"I can't feel anything." She said at last, "I can't feel the breeze."

"Of course you can't. There probably won't be a game years from even fairy standards that can be _that_ realistic." Foaly explained. "Do you also notice how the sun is shining right above us, and yet our powers aren't being drained? That's because the rays of the sun aren't real."

Everyone squinted up at the sky in awe, admiring just how pretty and realistic the landscape and scenery was. It was an artwork and masterpiece in itself, and Juliet had to admit that everything –from the slow, subtle movements of the puffy clouds to the twitching hares that roamed the countryside, added to the effect.

Root however was very spooked. He was never really fond of technology and found the sophistication and reality of the game to be quite eerie. He just had this instinct that something really bad was about to happen, and his instincts were never wrong.

Trouble's attention was focused towards Mulch who had buried himself a nice ditch in the ground, exactly big enough for the small dwarf to lie in and fall asleep. Then Trouble looked up to address the group, "So…if this is the game, what do we do?"

Everyone pondered at the thought looking around the place where the game took place. It seemed to be completely empty. Holly looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

"Well…what about that tree? Seems a bit _convenient _that there are loads of acorns underneath. Maybe once we collect them and replenish our magic, something will happen."

Everyone shrugged in agreement not having a better idea themselves. Fairies and humans raced to the tree. They were surprised to find a small fairy sitting down against the tree, hidden by the shadows. The fairy was no more than twenty or maybe thirty years of age. This was considered pretty young in fairy years. She had on a straw hat and was chewing on a piece of grass.

"I know you. You were one of the judges for the game. One of Haven's best Gamer." Mulch said. All heads turned to the little elf.

"Yes, and your Mulch. My name's Maple." She introduced herself.

"Can you tell us where we are?" Mulch asked the young elf.

"And where we might be going?"

"And what we have to do?"

"And where you came from?"

"JUST GO AHEAD AND TELL US EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS STUPID GAME!" Root yelled over everyone's voices.

The one called Maple nodded and stood up to see her company a lot better.

"Deviously tricky, this game is. I first played it while I was judging for the competition. I hadn't a clue where to go." Maple started.

Juliet poked Mulch in the stomach, "I thought you judged this game too, Mulch. You of all people should know what to do."

Mulch shook his head, "The hosts of the competition assigned me _Foaly's_ boring game. That was completely easy. I finished it in a day."

Foaly was about to say something, but Maple took narrative once again.

"Well to answer your first question. We are in Level One of the game. And I presume you want to go to Level Two. See, there are thirteen levels in this game. You have to go through all the levels and collect as much gold as you can. You can team up with whomever you want to, but everyone else will be competing against you for the gold. I made it as far as Level Three, where I lost and had to resort back here."

Holly snorted, figures the mud boy would make his game all about gold. "So where is the gold?" she asked.

Maple pointed up at the sky where Grub Kelp whined, "In the sky? You mean we have to fly around until we find it?" Maple shook her head and said,

"You are all lucky I am here. I had to figure this out all by myself. I was pointing to the rainbow –"

"Gold at the end of the rainbow." Foaly concluded.

Maple nodded, "Yes. To reach the pot of gold you simply have to follow the rainbow across this field where you will reach a canyon. You must do this all by the day's end though, because then the rainbow will be gone, and you will get hopelessly lost. Once you reach the end of the rainbow you must battle it out against those who protect the pot of gold, and when you've done that and collected the gold, you will instantly appear in Level Two."

Trouble nodded, "Thank you, Maple." He then turned towards his friends. "Let's collect the acorns, I have a feeling we will need our magic." Commander Root nodded at his suggestion and picked a fresh acorn from the ground. Holly, Grub, and Trouble did likewise. Mulch, Foaly, Juliet, and Butler just waited and had a nice conversation going with Maple, while the fairies chose a spot far from the tree to perform the ritual.

"Okay, let's get going." Root declared, leading the group onwards. Luckily for him, he apparently still had on his hummingbird wings even in the game. He quickly took off into the air. Holly, Trouble, and Grub after realizing this, also set off into the air. Holly also had her moon belt where she strapped it onto Juliet. Trouble carried Butler and Grub carried Mulch. Root settled on carrying the grumpy centaur, who was in a much better mood now that he actually saw Artemis' game.

Holly generally loved flying. Especially flying aboveground and in open and clear skies such as this one. She had never actually flown during the daylight and would've been enjoying it too, but with the absence of the wind in her face, it just wasn't quite as enjoyable. They were indeed flying at an incredibly fast speed and covered a lot of ground. Their trip was made a whole lot easier and faster with the LEP equipment. Neither of them said a word during the half an hour of flight, each choosing to observe the landscape instead.

"Commander Root," Major Kelp yelled out at him, the Commander was awoken from his thoughts and looked towards what Major Kelp was pointing at. Sure enough, just up ahead was the canyon. Just like Maple had instructed. The rainbow that had guided them bended downwards like a waterfall of light and seemed to be leading them down inside the canyon. Commander Root led the group downwards and he landed on the very edge, overlooking the valley below.

Holly landed beside him and was surveying the canyon. It appeared very deep; there was a foggy mist that enveloped the entire area, the thick fog hindered anyone from seeing what truly was at the bottom of the rift, but Holly could make out a glint of gold and some blurry shadows. She instantly pulled out her blaster.

"We need a plan of action." Butler called from behind her, with every spoken word, his breath appeared before him forming icy clouds. Butler suspected it must've been chilly around this area, but he couldn't feel cold in the slightest. Strangely enough…he caught himself shivering. Upon observing everyone else, he seemed to be the only one who was affected by the climate. _Strange…_

Mulch nodded, "Maple said there'd be things that were protecting the gold. Luckily, I have an idea."

Foaly looked towards Mulch in surprise, "Really? You have an idea. That's impressive."

"Make jokes all you want, pony boy, but who's the one with the idea here? Okay…well I will simply tunnel my way underground and steal the pot of gold. Piece of cake."

"Don't you think they'll notice if someone's stolen their pot of gold?" Trouble asked.

"Wouldn't matter. Nothing can catch me once I'm tunneling." Mulch said as he unhinged his jaw and undid his butt-flap. Foaly was about to argue with the dwarf's plan, but he was already long gone. Now all they could do was wait for the dwarf's arrival.

Everyone peered out over the edge of the cliff, trying to make out any movements or changes. However, the fog was way too thick to make out anything. Holly instead, kept her eyes glued to the glint of gold. Juliet watched as clouds started to form up in the sky, and the sun quietly started to set. They were bathed in an ethereal glow of orange light and she looked up to see three or four vultures gliding above their heads. Juliet turned to warn the others, but their eyes were fixed on the rift. Only Grub Kelp seemed to have notice.

"Um…guys…" Grub whimpered, trembling in fright.

"Not now, Grub." Trouble said exasperated, rolling his eyes at his younger brother. It was then that he noticed, when he turned around, and a particularly fierce bird swiped at him. Trouble gasped in surprise and fell backwards…into the canyon. The loud screams and screeches could be heard for miles, echoing and resonating into the distance.

"TROUBLE!" Grub and Hollyyelled out simultaneously. Instantly, they could make out four pairs of beady yellow eyes down beneath them. Grub got down on his knees, peering over the ledge, desperately trying to find his only brother. Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw a faint outline of Trouble's body collide against the hard ground.

Then…a gunshot was heard.

A faint whisper of smoke trailed out of Commander Root's gun, as two of the large vultures were fried by the deadly weapon. The sounds of the high-pitched screeches that followed deadened the night, and the frail birds gently fell back to their graves.

But it wasn't over yet…

Suddenly, Grub jumped down into the canyon, falling fast, and tearing away at the thick fog like a cold knife. Through the small hole in the fog, two limp bodies could be seen…Mulch and Major Kelp were in trouble! _So much for nobody catching him..._

Holly gasped, her face instantly went pale. Without a moment's hesitation, she kicked off from the ground and dove down into the sea of fog, her body forming a perfect arc, and just as quickly she disappeared in it.

"Holly…" Commander Root whispered into the distant, his voice hoarse, he couldn't believe the stupidity of his officers, jumping down into deep pits, as if it were a regular swimming pool. Just as the pattern went, Grub jumping after Trouble, Holly jumping after Grub; Root's dragonfly wings vibrated and maneuvered him down the chasm, after Holly.

Artemis Fowl wasn't in the greatest of moods. He had been forced to stay up the entire night working on trying to get the fairies out of the game. Now, he was riding his own private jet, which would take him to the middle of nowhere in a country town in Ireland. And to make matters worse, his mother was giggling like a young schoolgirl, and his father provided the clichéd jokes. It was just cruel torture…

_Artemis was five years old when he last met his aunt and uncle. They had stayed at Fowl Manor for the whole month of December and celebrated Christmas with the Fowls that year. A big mistake as it happens. His Uncle Miles was an elementary school teacher, and he was quite popular with children as he thought. Upon entering Fowl Manor and meeting the five year old prodigy, he started giving his nephew all the attention. He treated Artemis like a little child back then, asking him pointless, silly questions and talking to him like one would a baby. No matter how many times Artemis would beat Uncle Miles at his own little games, and bested a grown adult's vocabulary, his uncle just wouldn't give up in treating him like a minor. Finally, on Christmas Eve, Uncle Miles had plotted against Artemis. He showed up in a Santa's suit at Twelve o' Clock midnight, and played the part quite perfectly…all the other little kids at the Manor who hadn't fallen asleep were quite surprised and instantly lined up to take pictures and ask for their precious presents. Artemis however wasn't fooled; he had realized it was his uncle straight off, of course. So, when Santa Claus also known as Uncle Miles picked him up on his lap, Artemis did the only thing a five-year-old criminal mastermind thought to do, he pulled off the fake beard and declared Uncle Miles to be an imposter! All the little children present were quite surprised and disappointed at their school teacher, they never liked him in the same way again. Some of the more furious ones started throwing their presents at Artemis' poor Uncle and calling him a fraud, a phony, cheapskate. Well, Uncle Miles never taught elementary school again. They were never seen at Fowl Manor again, after that. _

Artemis long since learned that almost all adults were the same way. They underestimated younger children and treat them as if they had half a brain. Artemis smirked at the memory of his uncle Miles quitting his job, because he was shamed by his five-year-old nephew. Artemis had a hunch that uncle Miles won't underestimate him again, now that he was fifteen.

Artemis sighed, his thoughts racing, not only on the trip, but on the fairies and Butler as well. If Chix had given them the message, they would've been out of the game by now, and they would've called him, surely. Artemis had hid his fairy communicator onboard the plane while his parents weren't paying the slightest of attention to him. All he needed now was more complications…

When Chix Verbil arrived in the game, he felt quite confused and lost. The mission was easy enough, find Holly and co. and tell them to take their RSX off. No problem, Chix had thought. But upon arriving, he had found out two things. One, the game was vast. It seemed as if he were in the middle of immense field, land stretching for miles and miles on all sides. It would be difficult enough trying to find the six fairies and the two humans. And if that weren't enough there was number two…even if Chix were to reach them, how were they going to get out of the game, if he himself cannot seem to take off his RSX.

The first thing Chix did when he put on the lightweight game console and stumbled into this strange place, was to make sure the glasses were still there… But Chix couldn't feel them. _Oh great_, he thought to himself. His only hope was to find Holly and the others and see if they maybe had their glasses on. And if not, they would have to do the next best thing and win the game. Things weren't looking good.

"Hello there!"

Chix shrieked and turned on his heels so fast, he mistepped and ended up stumbling into some strange hole. He was startled by the sudden sound in the all around still and empty landscape. The voice was coming from a young elf girl wearing a funny looking hat. The girl giggled upon seeing him and offered to help him up.

"Uhh..h-hi." Chix said, still a bit spooked.

"Are you new to the game too?" asked the young elf.

"Well…yeah. Ain't everybody?"

The girl smiled, "Except the judges. I'm Maple."

"Tha's a pretty name, darlin'. I'm called Chix." Chix said, charming as he usually always is.

Maple scowled at him, "I hate my name," she mumbled. Chix raised his eyebrow curiously. Ladies…they were all the same…extremely weird. Chix couldn't understand how someone could hate their own name, he shrugged it off, remembering why he had come here in the first place. _To rescue the crazy girly captain_, he thought, a crazed smile playing on his face.

"Maple, do you know how to get out of this game?"

"Just take the RSX off. You can't really see it while you're playing the game, but it's there. Foaly was telling us about this, right when he released the game console. The thing is, who you are in the game is not really you. It's your brain's mental image of yourself. Your _physical_ body –that is outside of the game –has to take the RSX off. So you have to command yourself to take the glasses off…like you normally would do, only it's trickier now, because your playing the game. But you get the hang of it after awhile." Maple explained. Chix just looked at her with the same blank expression, he quickly scratched his head in confusion. _What is it with all these scientific people, around here?_

"Yeah…. Right. Well…have you seen any other fairies around here? Four elves, a dwarf, and a centaur? They are also with two humans."

"Yes, actually. They left a bit earlier. They headed that way." Maple pointed to the west where the sun started to set. "But you might not want to head off that way, it'll get dark soon, and you can get lost. I sent them after the rainbow, it's disappeared now."

Chix raised his hand leveled with his eyebrows, so he could see better. Just then, a couple of vultures soared across them, screeching madly and headed towards the direction Maple had just pointed at. This seemed to make Maple gasp, so Chix turned towards her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"The vultures. They're heading towards your friends! They usually appear right before a death."

Chix' eyes were wide with fright and he gulped, "But you can't _really_ die?" His voice was high-pitched and he was trembling all over. "It's…it's j-just a game."

Maple nodded, "Of course you can't really die. But after you lose the game, the RSX goes blank. You'd have to restart them, and then you'd be back to level one. It's quite annoying actually."

"How do you restart it?"

"By taking them off, and pressing the button on the outside."

Chix nodded, his job was made a whole lot easier. If his friends _were_ to die, they wouldn't _really_ be in any harm. They would just be forced to take the RSX off themselves. "Oh okay. I'll be goin' then." And with that Chix concentrated on pulling the RSX off his physical person. And…

The next thing he knew he was back at Fowl Manor.

Commander Root flew down to the bottom of the canyon with all the agility and skills that earned him the title of 'Commander'. He had his tri-barreled blaster out and was ready to fire at something. What he didn't expect was to fire at the LEP…

Holly Short hovered about three feet above the ground firing at another elf who seemed to be wearing the same LEP uniform. Grub Kelp was trying to fire at the elf, but instead he missed hitting Holly square on the chest. The strange elf was quite grateful, nevertheless he fired right back at Grub and after he was stunned, he handcuffed him, where he piled him with the rest of the _intruders._ Trouble Kelp and Mulch Diggums were tied up and handcuffed to a large pole that stuck up from the middle of the ground. Not far from the pole…was a large pot of gold.

It had turned out that the yellow beady eyes they were seeing before were only the flashlights of their LEP helmets. Root couldn't believe how realistic and lifelike these fairies actually were, and the scary part was that they were better at police work than some of his officers! Root understood right then…They're LEPrecons defending the fairy gold.

Root almost hesitated in shooting at them, they were so much like his own officers, dressed in the same uniform too…but they were just virtual fairies. At that moment the virtual elf headed towards Holly, who was lying on the floor unconscious. Blue sparks were shooting up to heal her. The LEP elf took out his neutrino…and then, Root fired!

Meanwhile, back on the cliff, Butler and Juliet turned to see a whole flock of vultures circling above them…eyeing their prey. Butler swore he saw one vulture lick it's jagged and pointy beak. Foaly slowly started to walk away, trying his hardest not to make the slightest sound. _Where had all these birds come from? _There were at least twenty or thirty birds now, blocking the rising moon.

Butler had one experience dealing with vultures. But never this many! They weren't as deadly as they were frightening, these creatures only serve on the dead and they had a keen sense of sniffing out the dead ones and _those about to die._ Of course, they weren't _real_ vultures. They were only in a game. They can't _really_ die in here. Foaly had said! They weren't able to feel neither the breeze, nor the wind while they were flying up here! _But…_Butler thought horridly, _I felt the chilling cold._

Suddenly, Butler pulled out his Sig Sauer and fired six shots at the bloodthirsty birds.

Foaly flinched at the sound, which seemed so realistic… The birds instantly scattered, and five dead vultures fell from the sky. The ones left all landed, screeching a deadly cry. Foaly half expected them to attack, but instead they huddled around the dead mess of feathers and viciously started to rip the dead birds apart. Tearing at their wings and their necks. Blood scattered everywhere and they pecked on the poor lifeless corpse, eating the only meat available…

"Those cannibals!" Juliet hollered horrified.

"This game is a little _too_ realistic for my liking." Butler said softly, he then went over to his sister, covering her eyes from the gory mess, to prevent her from watching.

"Bro, I'm not six!" Juliet scowled at him, pulling away his hands, but she didn't dare look back at the sight. Foaly, who was listening intently on their conversation, gleamed. A smile appearing on his face as the sudden realization hit him. _This is all a game! _He thought. He wasn't really in any danger! And he could get out any time he wanted to. Like now, for example.

"Listen, let's just get out of here." Foaly grumbled.

"How?" Butler asked, "How can we take off the RSX if we're not wearing them?"

"If we weren't wearing them, we wouldn't be able to see all this." Foaly explained, "This isn't even our real selves, it is just our mind's image for ourselves. Didn't you notice how Root was a lot more muscular and physically fit?" Foaly snorted, "As if, he really looked like that! I mean sure…maybe three hundred years ago, but –"

"Foaly, get on with it!" Butler said impatiently.

"Right. Well we cannot see our physical selves or our physical surroundings because our brain is currently being sent images from the game. You have to really concentrate when trying to take the RSX off. Don't just do it…you've got to really think about it." Foaly explained.

Butler nodded and relaxed, closing his eyes. Juliet did likewise. For a few moments all was still…Butler's face was squished up from concentrating so hard. Juliet's face was just red, and Foaly seemed to be incapable of doing so either.

"What's wrong, Foaly?" Juliet asked, her voice had an edge of fright. "Are we stuck in the game?"

Foaly muttered something pacing around back and forth, all the while continually thinking and thinking about taking off the glasses. Eventually he kicked at a nearby rock, in frustration.

"I don't understand it! It seems as if we are physically incapable of taking off our glasses. But I don't see how that could happen. The only possible explanation would be if…I dunno, there are many possible explanations…"

"Like what?" Juliet asked.

"Well. Maybe someone could've cut off our hands while we were in the game. We wouldn't be able to feel it. Our brain is completely cut off from the outside world."

Butler groaned. "Listen to me, centaur! You. Get. Us. Out. Of. Here. Now!"

Foaly quickly ran off hiding behind Juliet. Juliet meant to say something, but was cut off from speech, she pointed towards the vultures, who had finished their meals and were staring at the three of them intently. But it wasn't the vultures who she was pointing at…it was the boy beside the vulture. Who had silently crept towards them, without their noticing. Foaly gasped, and Butler turned around his face a wave of emotions at once.

"I know how you can get out of the game." The boy said.

The LEP elf fell. His body currently stunned. Commander Root flew over to Holly, who immediately sat up.

"Are you alright?" Root asked.

Holly seemed flustered for a few moments. The expression on her face was something like…_fear?_

"Yeah…I..I am now. B-but.."

"Spill it out, Captain!" Root bellowed, his complexion turning deep red.

"It was just that, right when Grub Kelp hit me…I felt it." Holly muttered softly. Then, her voice turned strong, "I felt it, Commander. How could that be possible? It's just a game."

"Your imagining things, Holly."

Holly instantly turned alert. She pointed to something behind Root. Root turned around and saw four more LEP officers, their guns all drawn. Holly weakly stood up, not sure of what to do. There were two elves, a gnome, and a dwarf who now started to approach them. With each step they took, the Commander and Holly took a step back.

"Drop your weapons." Said the gnome; he was speaking in gnomish, his nameplate suggested he was the captain.

Root scowled, muttering a word of _D'arvit_ and dropped his blaster gun, his arms up above his head. Holly suddenly felt pangs of bottled up anger, here she was about to virtually die in the hands of virtual LEP officers who virtually captured her friends because they were planning to steal a large pot of virtual gold at the end of the d'arvitting, virtual rainbow. You can easily see why she was upset.

"Drop your weapons!" The gnome repeated, his breath formed icy clouds. Cold. It was cold. Holly looked at her arm that was holding her neutrino, it was shivering. Her whole body was shivering… She didn't care what Foaly had said before, she felt cold! It was then that it hit her; this wasn't just any old virtual game. It was reality.

"Drop it, Short!" Commander Root hissed. Holly dropped the gun.

"Don't shoot us." She said, her voice wavering, "We're LEP officers too. Just like you." Holly took a step towards them. The gnome laughed at the elf captain, there was no mercy in his eyes. He raised his gun and was about to fire…

BANG! A gun shot. Holly closed her eyes…_but that's not the sound of a neutrino. _Curious. She heard a few more shots being fired and some conversation. She heard someone being knocked out and then a familiar voice.

"Why Captain Short, if you'd open your eyes, you'd be pleased with the outcome."

She opened them, slowly and hesitantly. What she saw terrified her out of her wits. She stumbled backwards, surprised and landed on Julius Root.

"SHORT! GET OFF OF ME! D'ARVIT! DO I LOOK LIKE A COMFY CHAIR TO EVERYONE?"

"S-sorry, Commander, but is that? D'arvit! Artemis! I'm going to kill you!"

Sure enough, Artemis Fowl was standing a mere few feet from the clumsy captain, wearing a satisfactory smirk. Looking around, Holly saw Butler lugging the now unconscious bodies of the LEPrecon officers. Juliet was untying Mulch and Trouble, and Foaly was wandering off towards the now unprotected pot of gold. Grub Kelp was trying to heal Mulch, and keeping clear of Holly. He didn't want to be the elf girl's target, especially not since he accidentally fired at her. Lucky for Grub, Holly's rage was focused towards Artemis.

"You took your sweet time getting here!" Holly yelled.

"There is no point in shouting, Captain. I can hear you perfectly fine, we're practically right by each other. It is just wholly unnecessary and a waste of energy. Not to mention it's childish and unprofessional." Artemis retorted.

Holly narrowed her eyes at him. The Mud boy could get under her skin like nobody else. It was utterly annoying. What angered Holly more, was the fact that he was always right. She stuck her tongue at him childishly, trying to prove the fact that she didn't care. Artemis raised an eyebrow, annoyed apparently. It gave Holly great pleasure to annoy Artemis for once.

"Artemis! I think there's been a _small_ malfunction on the RSX." Foaly said, trotting towards him. "We can't seem to take them off."

Commander Root's face instantly turned a deep shade of burgundy. "What do you mean, _we can't take them off?" _

Artemis held up a hand silencing everyone, "I am aware of this. You cannot take the glasses off, because you are physically unable to do so. Your physical body isstunned, back in the material world."

"What? But, how did this happen?" Juliet asked. Mulch and Trouble gathered up around Artemis, rubbing their heads. They had a big headache and on top of it all, they were listening in on terrible news.

"Chix came into the room and dropped water all over the floor."

"Figures this was all Chix's fault." Mulch mumbled.

"Choosing to sit on metal chairs while wearing a highly electric object doesn't help either."

Foaly slapped his head in anger. "Of course! D'arvit! We were so stupid."

"So, how do we get out of the game then?" Trouble asked.

"There's only one way…you win the game, then the RSX will automatically shut off. And I'm here to help, of course." Artemis explained.

"Wait." Foaly said, "There's another way. We could lose the game instead. The RSX will go blank and then…" Foaly's voice trailed off.

"You're _physical_ bodies would have to restart them. But they are unable to. You'd be stuck on a blank screen, perhaps forever." Artemis finished. "At least until the game is automatically reset, and that's only when someone wins the game. Or if your physical body suddenly awakes, that could take weeks."

"So we're going to have to win the game then…" Holly said.

"Wait. Artemis, perhaps you can explain something to me." The silent Butler suddenly spoke. He pointed to his face. His nose was slightly red. "The cold. How could I feel the cold?"

"Yeah, I feel the cold too. And when Grub Kelp shot me, I felt the pain!" Holly said.

Artemis nodded, "I had a theory of this happening. On playing other games, you are quite safe, as the brain sees it as just a game. However, my game is so realistic, the brain sees it as reality. In other words, the electrodes stimulates the brain into thinking the player is actually hurt or is actually cold."

There was immediate silence as the eight of them took all the information in. None of them looked happy, almost everyone was worried.

"That's not good." Holly said at last.

Artemis nodded, walking over to the pot of gold. The rest, followed.

"The game recognizes the eight of you as a team. An individual person could find the gold at the end of each level, and you will all advance to the next level. In other words, if one person wins, you all win. A small change in the game, which I reprogrammed. However, if one person dies in the game, they will be stuck in a blank screen, until a member of their team wins. All the same, you cannot let members of other teams take the gold, if you want to win and get out of here." He explained.

Holly Short, Commander Root, Trouble Kelp, Grub Kelp, Butler, Juliet, Mulch, and Foaly all nodded, understanding the situation completely.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for Level Two!" Commander Root said. And touched the pot of gold.

Artemis Fowl was nearly tempted into suicide right then and there. His parents were acting like…_children! _They were actually _singing! _Artemis rubbed his temple, trying but failing to drown out the dreadful sound by recounting one of Newton's theorems.

"Come on, Arty! Sing along! Tralalala!" His mother sang, Artemis winced. He couldn't remember a time his parents were so cheerful. And he was overall miserable…oh the clichéness of it all. Artemis muttered something to himself about how _clichéness_ was not a word, when his back pocket vibrated…

_The fairy communicator_, he concluded. Artemis quickly dismissed himself to the bathroom where he locked the door and pulled out his communicator. He was expecting to see Holly or Butler, but it was Chix.

"Did you get the others out of the game?" Artemis asked.

"Er, I couldn't find them. But, see I talked to one of the judges in the game. Maple, she's called. She says if they lose the game, they'd be able to get out. So I figured –"

Artemis groaned in frustration. "No, Chix! Their physical bodies are stunned they won't be able to restart the game, they'd be stuck without a hope of ever returning back to the material world. They _have_ to win the game…that's the only way."

"You mean they can't take the RSX off?"

Artemis shook his head. "I've thought it over. They wouldn't be able to…"

"Bummer."

"Arty! We're landing! Come out of there, quick!"

Artemis buried his face in his hands. There was no way out of this.

"Chix, keep me informed. Stay there watching them while I'm gone. Once their magic runs out, _you_ have to be the one to heal all of them, constantly. Otherwise…well it'll get very ugly." Artemis said, making sure he had direct eye contact. Artemis then turned off the communicator without giving Chix a chance to reply. He wondered whether any of the others were okay. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he worried about Butler and Juliet and Mulch. He worried about Trouble and Grub and Root. He even worried about Foaly. But for some reason he worried most about Holly…

"We've arrived at Louisburgh, Ireland." The pilot said over the intercom.

Timmy and Angeline cheered. Artemis just slumped into his seat, refusing to leave the plane.

"Come on, Arty. It's not polite to be late." Angeline tugged at her son's sleeve. Artemis found himself to be the only mature one on the plane. He figured, the only way to solve this, was to try a new tactic, as refusing will only encourage his mother all the more.

Artemis moaned and had the back of his hand up to his forehead. "Mother, I think I'm coming down with something." He faked a cough. "I feel weak and dizzy."

Angeline looked at her son with a worried glance. "You do look rather pale."

Timmy stepped up towards them. "He's always that pale, Angeline."

"Oh, but, Timmy! What if our poor Arty is sick! We have to take him to the hospital!"

"Nonsense. He's just caught a bit of flight-sickness. Once he's off the plane and breathing fresh air he'd be alright."

Artemis scowled. This time both his parents were tugging on each arm.

"Artemis –don't be…ridiculous!" Timmy reprimanded.

Artemis had hoped that his parents would dislocate his arm, then they would be forced to cancel the trip and take him home, but no such luck. They had finally lugged Artemis out of the plane, and the fifteen-year-old genius had to deal with it. Artemis almost freaked out when he was told to carry his own luggage. _Honestly, Artemis Fowl carrying his own luggage? _It was simply unheard of. Worse of all, they had to wait at the airport for two hours before Artemis' Uncle Miles appeared.

He was talking fervently with Angeline about typical things, such as the weather, the trip, and how _fun_ this week was going to be! Artemis snorted. Timmy also joined in the conversation occasionally. But mostly he was pressing his son on talking. Artemis just pressed his lips firmly together as if to prove his point.

"And how is Liam?" Angeline asked her brother-in-law. She was referring of course to Artemis' younger cousin.

"Oh, he's just turned ten a few months ago. He's fine. Quite a weird little kid, really, but all geniuses are." Miles responded. At this point, Artemis was listening intently.

"He's a genius then?" Timmy asked.

"Oh yeah. We always knew he was exceptionally bright. He took a test about three years ago to confirm it, though. We were all very happy for him, but not much surprised."

"Did you hear that, Arty? Liam took after his favorite cousin." Angeline cooed.

'_His only cousin…'_ Artemis wanted to add, but refrained from doing so. His mind was racing. _Another genius in the family…_Perhaps this trip wouldn't be so bad after all. Artemis smirked, _it just might prove interesting._

**A/N: Confused? ) Good. –evil smirks- You shall see. In the meantime, Review!**


	6. Midas' Realm

**Disclaimer: blahhh insert witty disclaimer here**

**A/N: **Wow it has been a while...I'd like to thank all my reviewers, you guys have been the people who had kept me going and who encouraged me to write, so thank you. I'm really sorry this had taken so long, I had school work and was sort of down by The Lost Colony, don't get me wrong, it's a great book...but well ---bah, you'll know if you've read it. Also, I've decided not to do Artemis/OC. As I was writing it, it was turning more towards Artemis/Holly. shrugs it had written itself that way, blame it, not me.

**Chapter Six: Mida's Realm**

The next thing Trouble knew, he was sitting down leaning against a tree. He seemed to be somewhere in the deep woods he reasoned, looking around at all the trees nearby. Trouble dropped the acorn he saved from the previous level right where he was sitting, and he instantly felt a lot better as the magic filled his entire body and he was running hot.

"Where are we?" asked an exhausted Holly.

"We are currently in Level Two of the game." Artemis explained. The human boy seemed to be the only one up on his feet. "Midas' Realm."

Juliet, who found herself sitting on a low branch, suddenly jumped down, surprising the slumbering dwarf.

"GAH! Where did you come from?" Mulch cried.

Juliet shrugged him off. "Midas? The name sounds familiar…"

"It should. When I found out that fairies loved Mud men folktales, I incorporated a few in the game. King Midas was a fairly benevolent king who ran a vast, yet extremely poor kingdom. Fortunately for King Midas, the god Dionysus had owed him a favor for helping out his friend Silenus. The god offered to grant the King one wish, and King Midas came to the decision where he wanted everything he touched to turn to gold. So the god kept his promise, and sure enough everything that he touched turned immediately to gold."

"Sounds like a useful gift." Mulch mused.

Juliet was about to mention the rest of the story to the fairies but Artemis had interrupted her.

"In this level, I've given you each a list."

"Where?" Grub Kelp asked. Artemis sighed, "In your pocket." He replied. Everyone pulled a piece of paper that appeared magically in their pocket. Four things were listed on it. After comparing papers with everyone else Mulch grumbled, "How come I have more things on my paper?"

"It doesn't matter." Artemis dismissed the matter quickly. "As I was saying, I've given you each a list. In order to get to the third level, you must each collect what is on your list. If you successfully collect everything you will stand a good chance at winning this game. If you miss a couple of things, that is alright, so long as Captain Short collects everything on her list, you will all advance to the next level."

Holly looked at her list, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What's so special about my list?" Holly asked.

"Your list has the required items you will need to win the game. Everyone else is basically collecting…think of it as bonus points. If you don't collect what's on your list, you won't be able to make it to level three."

"Great." Holly scoffed.

Artemis led the group out of the dense woods. Commander Root was glad for once that the mud boy was with them. He wouldn't have known where to lead the group, what with the forest being so thick. Overheard he heard some leaves rattling and an owl taking flight, hooting at them from below. The commander impatiently tapped on his blaster strapped to his hip, he was really nervous when traveling by foot in such a strange place, and was easily spooked each time he heard a twig crack or rustling movements underfoot.

Everyone walked with an air of caution, no longer choosing to underestimate the game. Butler couldn't help glancing back over his shoulder every couple of minutes. Grub Kelp was whining consistently. So far he had been bitten, scratched at, received a cut, and a bruise from where he bumped his head on a low branch. Now, he was complaining about thorns.

Juliet seemed to be the only one who was enjoying herself. She traveled behind Butler who had cleared most of the way for her. She was also captivated at the beauty of the whole place. The small droplets of dew on the grass and trees glistened, reflecting the spectacular light of the moon. The chorus of virtual crickets chirped a soft melodic song, which for some reason gave Juliet immense comfort. The best view of all was the dazzling stars overhead, winking right back at her.

"Are we any closer, Artemis?" Mulch panted, choosing to stop and rest on a fallen log. Artemis stopped too; he hardly even glanced at his surroundings and then replied, "We're almost there."

"Are you sure?" Holly asked uncertainly, "I think we've past this clearing before."

Commander Root plopped down on the log, not even caring that he sat next to the foul-smelling dwarf. Grub Kelp ran towards them to keep up, but ended up tripping on a piece of bark, where he conveniently fell face first into a mud puddle. Foaly snickered coming up from behind him and Butler stopped right in front of him.

"And you call _us_ Mud men." Butler replied in amusement. Trouble bent down towards his brother. It looked like he was about to help him up, but instead he picked up the piece of bark.

"Let's make a fire and rest here a while." Trouble said, leaving his poor brother to get up himself.

"Just wait till I tell mommy about this!" Grub mumbled splattering mud all over the place as he walked. Holly noticed that Grub wasn't the only one who had suffered during the walk. Most of them were up to their knees with mud, and a lot of them suffered scrapes and cuts. Holly herself had stubbed a toe and a few bug bites, but all were healed within minutes, instead she carried a large rip on the side of her uniform. Butler looked the worse out of all of them, besides Grub of course, because none of his injuries had healed. Holly was the reasonable one who hovered up to the giant manservant to heal him. Juliet meanwhile was making a fuss about all the twigs in her hair. Artemis, however, had managed to end up in one piece. In fact, the boy hadn't a single cut or scratch, nor ended up dirty in the slightest. Holly envied him, at the same time wondering how he did it.

After a while, they managed to have a fire going and even that looked incredibly realistic. The embers floated around aimlessly and the flames lashed and licked at the firewood, devouring it into ashes. Butler wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but he swore that he felt a lot warmer.

Mulch meanwhile took the time to look at his list he had mysteriously found in his pocket.

"After all this trekking, this level should be a piece of cake." Mulch said examining the lists of others. Holly glanced at her list.

The King

An object more valuable before it was gold

The last thing the King has touched

"How can the King turn himself into gold? And what could be more valuable then gold? How are we supposed to know the last thing he touched anyway?" Mulch questioned aloud, after reading Holly's list.

"The list could have many meanings." Artemis replied ominously.

"But if the King were to touch himself and turn into gold, wouldn't he himself, be the last thing he touched?" Holly asked quizzically.

"The list could have many meanings." Artemis replied ominously…again.

"You've already said that." Juliet pointed out.

Artemis was about to reply when Commander Root shushed him. The fairies, who were notorious for their hearing, picked it up first. Then, there was a soft rustling in the bushes. Trouble Kelp and Commander Root immediately pulled out their neutrinos. Butler kept a sharp eye on the bushes; he swore he had seen a pair of dark eyes…

Then, something had attacked from behind!

Foaly cried out in pain, the poor centaur had never before experienced anything like this. He was always the sort to watch all the action from behind a screen, and now he was forced to be in the action. Foaly couldn't believe the searing pain; he actually _felt_ the pain, the virtual pain that was nonexistent…except in his mind. By instinct, he kicked up at the vicious beast with such a force, the body was hurled up into the air and the furry mass collided with a tree and a loud, painful thump. Foaly meanwhile tried to keep himself from looking at the bloody gash on his leg. Instead, he clenched his jaw from crying out loud and grinded his teeth, cold sweat issuing out of his pores.

"FOALY!" Holly cried, the elf captain ran right to her friend, she took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from throwing up. Then she lay her hand shakily on top of Foaly's leg, near where the wound was. Blue sparks shot out, instantly recovering the wound and replenishing the large amounts of blood lost.

Suddenly, the first beast pounced out from the shrubbery and was about to attack, but before it could sink its claws into anything, was shot with 2 bullets to the head and zapped several times from the neutrinos.

"Are you alright?" Holly asked, once Foaly's leg was all healed.

"Better." Foaly sniffed, he did feel instantly better but that was the exact problem. He wasn't supposed to feel _anything._ Foaly couldn't bring himself to say that they were in a virtual game…everything seemed so completely real.

"What was that thing?"

"Wolves." Artemis stated simply, completely indifferent to the whole thing. "They lurk in the woods, you know."

Holly sighed exasperated, "Why couldn't it have been…bunny rabbits or something? Why, wolves, D'arvit!"

"One, bunny rabbits wouldn't have won the competition and two, wolves are the perfect predator." Artemis answered, "But there's one more around here. There's always three…"

Mulch, who had been sleeping through the whole thing rubbed his eyes and got up to stretch his legs. Finding everyone up and alert, made him extremely nervous, without meaning to he let out a blast of gas. Luckily for the dwarf, the third wolf had positioned himself right behind him at that moment, and it hadn't ended well for the 'perfect predator'.

"Nice one, Smelly." Juliet gleamed. Mulch peered around his shoulder, where he saw an unconscious wolf lying harmlessly on the grass.

"I vote we should move on, in case more of them come." Trouble said.

"Yes. Why don't you lead the way, Artemis?" Butler asked his charge, Artemis nodded and the group plunged deeper into the woods. When the sun rose the next day, they had chosen to rest by the creek Artemis had led them to. Holly cheered jumping right in, along with Trouble Kelp and Juliet. Grub slowly eased his foot in, when he jumped up complaining about the cold.

"Come on in! The water's great!" Juliet called out towards them, she started to make her way farther across the creek, but slipped and fell on her rear into the shallow water. Trouble chortled upon the sight and Holly was in hysterics before she too, slipped and fell straight in, then it was Juliet's turn to laugh.

Trouble bit his tongue, trying the best not to laugh. He made his way over to where Holly was and reached up a hand to help her. Holly looked up at the Retrieval Major, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. She grabbed his hand, and yanked him down in the river along with her. Trouble Kelp screamed as he came down, only to swallow a lungful of water. Holly giggled innocently as Kelp got to his feet again, and the two fairies started to have a splash war. Juliet then joined in on Holly's side, and the poor male elf was left to fend for himself.

Butler watched the three of them in amusement and looked up at his charge who was as nonchalant as ever. The manservant who was sweaty and muddy and had scratches and bites couldn't help but wonder how Artemis hadn't managed to get one speck of dirt on his Armani loafers.

Commander Root was just resting by the bank of the river when Foaly trotted up towards him.

"How's your leg?" Commander Root asked.

"Physically, I am perfectly fine. Mentally, I'm hating this game more and more." Foaly mumbled, swatting at the virtual flies with his tail.

Root grumbled a word of agreement and laid back against the soft ground. The sun was already up, meaning they had spent a whole day in the game already. Root closed his weary eyes, listening to the distance sounds of conversation and the rushing water from the river. It was quite a relaxing moment for the Commander, something that doesn't happen quite often. It didn't last too long, as there was an annoying buzzing in the air…a dragonfly, he reasoned. He quickly pulled out his blaster and fired at the annoying thing. It was instantly zapped and the left over ash floated away with the wind.

"Nice shot, Julius."

"Shut up, Foaly. And don't call me Julius."

"Moody today aren't you?"

Julius Root shot up, his face turning a deep shade of crimson, his temple throbbing.

"You see how I shot that fly dead, just by bugging me? Imagine what I'll do to you!"

Foaly gulped. "_Well!_" He retorted coolly. Mulch Diggums came up towards them with a broad smile on his face. Foaly waved.

"Hello, Mulch Diggums."

"Hello, Foaly…what is your last name, anyways?"

"It's Centaurian, very hard to pronounce if you're not a centaur. My name is Foaly Eighonugheigh."

"I think it's lovely."

"I think so too, most people won't even try pronouncing it though. They just call me Mr. Foaly."

"Eye-him-an-a-what?"

"Eighonugheigh. You've got to accent…"

"Eye-hon-uga?"

"Eye-gwon-UG-hey." Foaly said pronouncing and stressing each syllable.

"Egginhigh?"

"Not even close."

"I'm just going to call you Foaly Eggy. Much easier."

"Or, you could just call me Foaly…"

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP!" That was Root.

Foaly and Mulch turned towards the Commander, they saw him rubbing his head, as if he had a major headache. He looked considerably tired and very _very_ annoyed. After Julius shot at the dragonfly, most of the fairies just stayed clear of him. But not Foaly or Mulch. They enjoyed teasing Root way too much.

"He's just jealous, because he doesn't have such a cool name." Mulch teased.

"Yeah, poor Julius has a pansy name. I sort of feel for him."

"He's such a big baby…you don't see Artemis crying about _his_ name."

"Maybe we should start calling him Julie from now on."

"Commander Julius Julie Root." Mulch snickered, turning to see said Commander twitching angrily at the Dwarf with his gun out, he was really temperamental today.

"DON'T CALL ME JULIUS!"

"We weren't calling you Julius, we were calling you Julie –OUCH!" Foaly jumped three feet up into the air, rubbing his bottom.

"What about Jules, Julio, Juju?" Mulch ventured, and he too was sent flying before he could give any more suggestions.

Suddenly, Corporal Kelp came running out from the woods, not many had noticed he was gone, but Root suspected that was why it had been quiet…_at least until Foaly and Mulch came._

"Julius!" Grub Kelp cried running up towards them, then after seeing Root's face he took a few steps backwards. Foaly and Mulch, despite their soreness were snickering from behind him. "I mean…C-commander."

"SPIT IT OUT, CORPORAL!"

"I was just looking for a quiet place to use the b-bathroom…there—there was a beaver, and it…it…it attacked m-me-me! And then the dam! And then it b-broke! And then the water! And then it got big! And then…and then…."

Julius tried to decipher what Grub was trying to say, but at that moment he heard a rather loud rumbling sound. Looking around towards the river, he realized what was happening. What he saw made his eyes go wide…

"EVERYONE OUT OF THE WATER NOW!" Root yelled, waving his arms aimlessly.

Juliet had just then, gotten hold of Trouble and was about to plunge him into the river, when she heard Commander's Root warning. She was about to question the order, something Madame Ko strictly forbid, but she hesitated, and with sudden realization she realized the current was getting stronger. And she and Trouble were swept off their feet by the current. Holly who was further along the river, looked up to see a wall of water, followed by two bodies hurled around by it. Her mind was telling her to fly, but her body couldn't react. And then, she was taken by the current too…before Root could even mutter the word, 'Flood'.

A/N: Yeah this one is sort of blah, but because you guys have been so awesome, I'll update the next few chapters, LOADS sooner!


	7. The Golden Touch

**Chapter Seven:** The Golden Touch

_A/N: This chapter is probably the longest. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm going to be writing all thirteen levels of the game. So they are all going to end up being this long. I particularly enjoyed writing every bit of this chapter. I also tried to add a little bit of angst, let me know if I more or less succeeded._

Grub Kelp whimpered and staggered about, splattering mud everywhere. So far, he had really hated this entire game and wasn't looking forward to the further levels. He had been bitten, hurt, and extremely sweaty from this unbearable heat! He had been frightened to death at least a dozen times, and everyone had ridiculed him! _Wait till my mommy hears about this! _Grub inwardly thought, the next thing he knew, he tripped and found himself lying face first on the ground. He pounded his fist against the ground in frustration.

"Oh why, oh why, does everything happen to me?" He moaned, getting up. He looked back across his shoulder. The man mountain was examining his charge, too caught up to notice, _him—_the only fairy of Retrieval One who had not been rendered unconscious. Grub puffed out his chest, looking back towards Foaly, Mulch, and Root who were arguing incessantly. _And they never seemed to have appreciated me for it! _

Grub turned towards the three in the river, giggling and laughing merrily, almost peacefully. Holly had just fallen into the icy cold, water. Grub saw with much envy, how Trouble approached Holly and offered to help her up. _Why didn't you help **me **up, last night when I fell? Instead you completely left me to fend for myself and nonchalantly started a fire! As if I didn't exist…your own brother! _Grub blinked back a tear, turning away towards the opposite direction. He'll show all of them, once he is gone, they're going to regret it. And so, Grub wondered about going every which way into the forest, muttering and complaining to himself. Finally, after rendering mosquitoes the most annoying things on the planet, he flopped down on the ground tired, hungry, scared, and completely and utterly lost.

Grub sighed, "I'll just stay right here. Eventually, the others will realize I am gone and come looking for me." He twiddled his thumbs for a few minutes, his gaze soon started to stray towards a virtual beaver chewing on a log. The beaver had posed his head sideways, to better cut down the trunk. It's eyes were locked directly upon Grub. The youngest Kelp didn't know anything about above surface animals. He hadn't a clue that beavers were completely harmless. He thought the animal looked menacing, and was particularly tweaked upon seeing those sharp teeth!

On sudden instinct, Grub threw a nearby rock at it and flinched. With great luck, the rock found it's mark and knocked the beaver straight on the head. Normal beavers, most likely wouldn't last after an attack like that. This particular virtual beaver was programmed to hold grudges…and to be decisively vicious. Lucky for Grub…

Needless to say, the beaver ran after Grub it abruptly turned around and slapped Grub with the flat end of his tail, sending the small fairy flying across the air, and landing belly flop into the river.

"Oowee!" Grub wailed. He spluttered a mouthful of water, and panicking started to flail his arms and legs, attempting to swim.

"Help! Help! 'elp!" Grub bobbed in and out of the water, the only thing keeping him from sinking, was the dog paddle motion of his arms. The worse part about it all was the bitter cold; the icy water seemed to chill Grub's lungs, which meant the LEP suit was malfunctioning. The only possible explanation is for the climate control part of the suit to have short-circuited from the intense heat. Grub got that uncanny feeling tingling at his skin, a feeling one often gets when extremely hot and rapidly getting freezing cold.

Grub Kelp regained his composure, finally arriving at a shallow part of the river where he can plant the tips of his toes.As he stood for a while, catching his breath, a sudden inspiration hit him. _I could fly…_Grub thought, _and follow the river back to hopefully find the others. _With this brilliant thought in mind, he tried to start his wings, but came up with no luck. _Why won't they start? _Grub realized instantly that the wings were half submerged in the water, and he mentally slapped himself for his stupidity right then. Suddenly, Grub felt his cheek burning raw, apparently he had been slapped, _that was odd…_Grub turned around slowly; coming face to face with the beaver he had met before. It's tail was up in the air, and before Grub could react, the beaver dove into the icy water. Another beaver from behind kicked at Grub, before it too dove into the river. Grub lost his footing and fell into the river. Under the water, he could see a maybe 6 or 7 beavers. A whole colony of them causing him pain. They were swimming around, underwater, it was right at that moment when Grub made eye contact, that they attacked!

The beavers one by one formed an orderly line and were swimming after him! Grub had to react fast, he hadn't enough time to call out for his mother. He attempted to swim towards the river's edge, but with quick calculation he realized it was much to wide. The beavers would have already reached him and he could hardly swim fast at all! Then he realized to his great fortune, that just mere feet away was an old, and apparently sturdy beaver's dam. Grub swam over to it, the way he knew how, and the beaver's took great amusement watching him, but after seeing where Grub was headed, they all swam around Grub, trying to block the way. They tried to corner the poor fairy, who was so unfamiliar to the surface environment, much less, the environment of a virtual game. _Oh mommy! What should I do? These creatures are going to eat me! What would Trouble do? _A sudden thought hit him, Grub quickly took out his water proof neutrino and blasted at the beavers in his way. The rest of the beavers quickly dispersed, cowardly swimming the opposite direction.

"Hah! What do you think of me now? Not even my brother could've caused more trouble!" Grub yelled back to the beavers, with his gift of tongues. He chuckled, proud at his accomplishment and heaved himself on top of the mound of logs, he struggled for a while, not used to much manual labor, until he finally slipped and fell into the water, knocking a few logs out of place. As he got up, he carried the neutrino in his mouth, and clenched his teeth. With both hands, he tried to climb up on the dam, and finally succeeded. Grub stood on top of the mound of logs and mud, looking over the distance, and laughing to himself as he saw the beavers.

"Run beavers!" He called out, "You will regret the day you ever met up with me! –Corporal Grub Kelp!" He kicked off into the sky and started his wings, which were finally working. Unfortunately, the as soon as the wings started, and the younger Kelp kicked off, another log was fallen out of place, and with the final movement into the sky, the entire dam leaned back and the entire thing collapsed into the river, almost like a domino effect…

"Oh my…" Grub whispered, as he saw the last remains of the dam be swept away by the rushing water. Corporal Kelp gulped as he saw a wave of water pass by, and the current growing stronger, the river growing deeper, barely overflooding…

"Not even my brother could've caused more trouble, indeed." Grub sighed, and zipped off across the sky towards what he made out to be camp….

As soon as Grub spotted Root, he made got himself to descend, and he clumsily landed among the bushes with a soft thud. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but mutter a word of 'd'arvit' before jumping out of the bushes and running towards Root. _Oh, Root is going to kill me!_

"What about Jules, Julio, Juju?" The dwarf and ex-convict seemed to have asked Root. But he was sent off into the sky before Root even answered him. Grub felt sorry that he had missed the previous conversation.

"Julius!" Grub cried, finally approaching them. The Commander seemed to have been in a foul mood (excuse the pun) and the Corporal quickly realized exactly who he was talking to. "I mean…C-commander."

"SPIT IT OUT, CORPORAL!"

Grub gulped, he might as well get it over with. He quickly told Root everything that had happened, with much difficulty, as he was getting even more nervous as he heard the loud rumbling of the current.

"EVERYONE OUT OF THE WATER NOW!" Root yelled, looking over to the three in the river.

Butler who was not far off from where they were, quickly reacted and beckoned Artemis away from the river and towards high land. Just as quickly, the current took Juliet, and Grub's brother.

"Trouble!" He whimpered, but before he could call out for him, Commander Root pushed Grub Kelp and both LEP soldiers ran trailing after Butler. Grub saw Butler anxiously looking back, "Where's Juliet?" he called out. Grub turned around, his eyes filled with worry for his brother…for Juliet, but most of all he felt guilt. This was all his fault. And as he was climbing the nearest tree, he saw a wave of water roaring and ripping across, taking a good friend of the Kelps along with it. Holly was gone, lost beneath the waves. And before Root could even mutter a single word…

"Artemis, quick! Up the tree! The current!" Butler called out, already half way up himself. The water quickly flooded the area and was increasing in volume by the second. Butler held up a hand and tried to grab hold of his charge, he closed his hand into a fist around his shoulder, but was surprised when…he grabbed nothing but air.

"What?" Butler called.

"He's a hologram." Foaly called up from below, watching the scene himself, he was floating upon the water, on top of a fallen log. It was large enough to carry both him and Mulch, who was desperately trying to keep his balance. Foaly's leg draped over the log, steadying it from rolling about, and with his legs, he pedaled about, maneuvering the log to his likeness.

Butler looked over to where he thought his charge was, unable to comprehend the centaur's words…but then it started to all make sense. _Not a speck of dirt got on his Armani shoes. _Then he saw, Artemis…or the hologram, standing atop the water, like an ethereal figure, which confirmed his thoughts. But Butler wasn't happy about that.

"Listen you, holographic imposter, where is Artemis? And I mean the _real_ Artemis, no more virtual images from this stupid game!" Butler growled.

The hologram looked up at Butler curiously, and smirked, with such detail that there was no mistaking that smirk. Foaly sat back admiring how…_real _it was.

"I ask you again!" Butler asked, "Where is Artemis?"

"In Louisburgh." The hologram replied matter of factly.

ooooooooooooo

The _real_ Artemis Fowl sat in the back of an old truck as his Uncle Miles and his mother sat up front recalling old memories. Artemis doubted any of them were actually accurate, nevertheless true. He figured they were deeply exaggerated and some of the holes that they couldn't remember was filled with imagination altogether.

Artemis' long, raven hair flew in every direction as the moving vehicle traveled nearly seventy miles an hour on the Irish countryside. The young Fowl progeny looked at the fresh landscape with much appreciation, he didn't know how long he could last breathing in Waterport's pollution, which was still no match for that of Dublin's. Technology had its disadvantage. Off into the distance, Artemis could make out the northern Atlantic Ocean; he could smell the tart salty sea and a mixture of morning dew. They passed through a large river, which Artemis believed to be the Bunowen. The water was particularly clear and wildlife thrived all around; scattered across the landscape were small ponds and marshes, the silvery water glistened as the sun's rays reflected off of it. The most spectacular sight of all, was the eerie mist that hung about the entire scenery, obscuring anything beyond a few hundred acres every direction. Artemis could just make out the Connaught mountains upon Clare Island, just a few way off from the coast, and Mount Mweelrea—the highest peak, to which was infamous around these parts, and seemed to have pierced through the mist and towering up towards the sky. Artemis mentally took in every single detail, storing it in his brain, to paint a picture once he got back home. Then, the truck took an avid swerve, and Artemis was brought back down to earth. He had to groan as he listened to a particular tale of his mother fighting off wolves in the woods. Artemis Senior, who accompanied his son in the back, smiled upon looking at his son's face, knowing that they both were thinking similar thoughts. The Fowl Patriarch couldn't even bring himself to imagine his wife ten feet near the woods, never mind fighting wolves.

"What would this be on the truth scale?" Timmy muttered silently to his son. Artemis pondered for a moment, really considering it.

"Well, from one—a complete lie, to 10—absolute truth, I would have to say a 4 for utter fantasy."

"Making it up on the spot, more like." Timmy scoffed.

"Perhaps, but you never know, wolves have a highly acute sense of smell. I would say that around a ten mile radius around Mother's perfume could rather suffocate them."

"Mhm, that actually sounds plausible."

"I try." Artemis shrugged, trying his hardest not to smile, but failing otherwise. Timmy smiled too, and reached out a hand to pull back Artemis' long locks of hair.

"That is why you're the genius. I was actually thinking along the lines of Angeline _wrestling_ them, highly unlikely, but those stiletto heels—"

"Can send any wolf to their grave." Artemis completed. Both Fowl men chuckled, replaying the situation in their heads.

"Oh, but her smirk—very nasty. Brought fear to the poor wolf's heart, I imagine. Poor beast never stood a chance."

Artemis nodded agreeing completely, "Couldn't have put it better myself, Father. I more or less pictured her wagging her finger at the filthy canine, chasing it straight down the river for a good bath." Artemis said, looking back towards his mother and uncle with a sly smirk on his face.

"Oh, Angie, do you remember the time we swam all the way over to Clare Island and climbed up to Mweelrea, single handedly, with you on my back, and those nasty ticks eatin' away at my flesh? Still got those scars, I'm afraid." Uncle Miles recited full heatedly.

The Fowl men shared a glance…

"Definitely a one." They both said simultaneously.

"I recon, those scars were from that unfortunate butter knife accident that happened during Christmas time, ten years ago." Artemis Senior mused.

"Do tell."

ooooooooooooo

Commander Root, Foaly, Mulch, Grub Kelp, Butler, and the virtual Artemis found were trekking through the woods upstream. After the sudden flood of the river, the group moved to higher elevations and was desperately looking for Holly, Trouble, and Juliet.

Butler strayed behind purposely, and kept at the virtual Artemis' pace. He was greatly worried about his sister that much was true, but she was a Butler after all, and he was even more curious as to what had happened. He felt he needed to get out of the game with more determination now that he realized that the _real_ Artemis was still out in the material world…unprotected. Butler just couldn't have any of it, not after years and years of watching Artemis, saving him, _dying _for him –not after all of that!

Butler waited patiently, as he always did, until his charge was ready to talk. But after what seemed like hours of walking, Butler couldn't stand it any longer. Then it hit him that this wasn't really Artemis—not _really. _The real Artemis would be more understanding, the real Artemis would talk…would assure Butler that everything is going as expected. Butler knew all along that _this_ Artemis had seemed different. He was much more hostile than he usually was –more sarcastic and cold, this wasn't the Artemis he knew…well it was, Butler thought thinking it over, but he had changed, and for the better. The influence of the people had made Artemis kinder and a much better person. The virtual Artemis seems to be more like the twelve-year- old, Artemis, not the well-liked fifteen-year-old Artemis.

"Artemis?" Butler ventured to ask. The hologram instantly looked towards the manservant –such a robotic movement. Butler shook his head and cleared it from his thoughts, it was a bit unnerving to see someone you know so well, someone you take as a son, and to realize that that person isn't there…that the one holding his place is just an imposter. An image completely produced by technology.

"What happened? Why are you…or why is the _real_ Artemis in Louisburgh?"

"Ahh, well old friend," The virtual Artemis began to explain, in the exact same way that the real Artemis would explain things. The virtual Artemis even called Butler 'old friend' something only the real Artemis would say. Butler had to move his hand in and out of the hologram's stomach in order to assure himself that this was not Artemis at all.

"The _real_ Artemis, as you call him, has taken a family vacation and certainly can not get out of it. I am his…_representation _in the game. I've been programmed into the game by your Arty, to aide you through the levels and make sure none of you…well die. The only way to get out of the game is to win, and without me, that is an impossible task."

"I don't understand why Artemis…the _real_ Artemis simply couldn't just have programmed the game to be easier. I mean…we could've done without the wolves and the flood."

"It is a complicated procedure—this game. If you are going to change the entire course of the game then you might as well just start from scratch, and you really can't do that can you? This is the best way. Trust me."

"I don't trust anyone."

The virtual Artemis shrugged, and then Foaly, who was not far off, joined in on the conversation.

"I am amazed on how sophisticated and sensible your language is, Artemis…err, Hologram." Foaly said, Mulch just rolled his eyes.

"He's the hologram of a genius, Foaly. Even I'm not surprised."

Foaly sighed, "You don't understand, Mulch. A computer does not have a brain, it cannot think for itself. You have to program the computer to respond to certain key words and you have to program it, how to respond to those key words. Modern Mud Men even have special computerized lamps, where you can tell it 'On' and the computer responds by turning on the light, or 'Off' and it will respond by turning off the light. I—have gotten as far as programming robots to hold a usual daily conversation. But if you were to ask the robot an unordinary question, like, 'Mulch Diggums smells nice.' It would be struck dumb and not know how to respond."

Mulch yawned, and smacked his lips together emphasizing his boredom. Butler was a lot more polite and waved Foaly to continue, but even still he had a single finger scratching at his head.

"Basically, this is ingenius. I mean, it might as well be _my_ invention." Foaly concluded, Mulch snorted.

"Just like I said, he's the hologram of a genius, Foaly. Still not surprised."

"Well, if all of the hologram's responses have been programmed, then Artemis must have known exactly what we were going to ask, exactly where we were going to go, and exactly the advice we would need." Butler mused.

"Which is what makes this unbelievable, the Mud boy has been about four steps ahead of us, this entire time."

Nobody took notice when the holographic Artemis had disappeared –that is, until it reappeared from nowhere and ended up at the exact spot that Grub Kelp was standing. It had seemed like Artemis' head was poking out from on top of the Corporal's. Grub quickly whimpered and jumped out from his spot, hiding behind an annoyed Root.

The holographic Artemis looked out blankly as if not entirely present or aware of anything that was going on, a look that Artemis usually gets when he is in deep concentration. Then, the virtual Artemis positioned both his hands in a strange way. They looked as if they were resting on a keyboard, but really they were hanging about in mid-air. The queerest about it all, was that there seemed to _actually_ be a keyboard, as though invisible. The virtual Artemis began moving his fingers as though he were typing. And right in front of the hologram's face there seemed to have been a transparent screen. Foaly could see right through the screen…in fact, Foaly wasn't even sure the screen was there, but he could make out characters being typed. The little letters and numbers appeared tiny and scrolled across the nonexistent screen, only to disappear in a few seconds.

"I've found Holly Short." The hologram announced, mid way through his typing.

"Where is she?" Root called out anxiously. The virtual Artemis typed a few more characters on the virtual keyboard, finally…with his index finger resting right above what would be the 'enter key' Artemis replied.

"Here." The hologram said…and pressed the button.

Instantly the party of fairies was transported to another part of the game, they seemed to have been further downstream where the river emptied into a large freshwater lake, and right there by the bank were three drenched, and familiar figures –an irritated Trouble Kelp, an exhausted Holly Short, and an unconscious Juliet Butler.

Butler quickly ran over towards his sister, his face worried and crestfallen, he gently shook Juliet's shoulder awake. He took a moment to look at her, Juliet was battered and had several bruises and a bloody gash on her leg. Taking in such a sight, made Butler's heart almost stop and he –who was trained to remain calm and composed—couldn't help but shudder, as his stomach turned twice over.

"Juliet?" He whispered gently yet anxiously. He noticed, to his great relief, that her bruises were quickly diminishing, and she started to regain color to her face. Then, Juliet's body arched, as some blue sparks started to heal the last of the wounds. A few minutes later, Juliet blinked back sleepiness from her eyes, and woke up to her overprotective brother.

"Dom?" She managed to mutter weakly.

The giant manservant smiled and hugged his sister rather tight, Juliet –being a Butler, playfully punched him on the shoulder and shrugged her brother off.

"You just get so emotional sometimes, bro! You're embarrassing me." Juliet said, getting up to her feet full heartedly, and running off towards the fairies who were avidly listening to Grub Kelp's story about how this whole thing was his fault.

Butler turned to walk over to the crowd, but before doing so, he looked back at a certain elfin captain who had apparently saved his sister's life.

"Thank you, Holly."

Holly nodded understanding completely, "We're great friends, least I can do."

"We owe you lots, Artemis and I. You've saved every single one of the residents at Fowl Manor."

"We owe you lots too, the People, you've saved our entire species countless times…after first threatening to exploit us and holding me for ransom." Holly laughed, not at all loud or cheerful, but meaningfully, "It's a wonder how we got to be great friends."

"Not at all if you take into account all of our adventures. You would think a virtual game would be a piece of cake for us." Butler muttered.

Holly looked up at the virtually dawn sky, a glint in her eye, and a new determination in her face. "Oh, I intend to win this game, and set Artemis straight, for ever thinking up of something like this…and then I'll gloat endlessly."

"I just hope you don't end up hurting him, because then I'll forcefully have to stand in your way…however, an invisible fairy Captain with a fiery temper is completely out of my hands, and certainly not mentioned in my contract." Butler winked.

Holly smirked about to shield herself, when Butler held her back.

"However, you'd be wasting your energy trying to punch a hologram..."

"What?" Holly gasped, and Butler told her everything.

ooooooooooooo

A vein was pulsing, and it took a lot of self-control to keep Root from blasting Corporal Kelp from the face of the planet, Trouble who was extremely agitated and now was grinding his teeth looked at his brother so fiercely, Grub Kelp peed in his pants. _Great,_ Kelp thought, _fourth time since I entered this bloody game! _

"You caused that Flood?" Root said, forcing his voice to become calm, "Over a beaver?"

By this time, Holly and Butler had arrived and were looking questionably at the other's reactions. Butler, upon following everyone's gaze towards Grub Kelp nodded completely understanding the situation. Grub twitched violently, and looked at his shoes, and even Juliet, couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the tiny fairy. It was just then, much to everyone's disappointment (and Grub's relief) that the holographic Artemis called out to them.

"Ah, here we are."

All eight heads turned simultaneously towards the Hologram, who had stepped through the bushes (literally) and was beckoning them forward. Commander Root led the group, and pushed his way through the thick shrubbery and right there in front of his nose was a large stonewall, and beyond the wall, was the castle… time to begin!

ooooooooooooo

The eight of them each scaled up the twenty-foot wall, all of them with quite ease, except Foaly who had to be carried by moon belt. Mulch decided to wing it, and jumped down, landing upon a bed of flowers, apparently they had found themselves on the courtyard. Much to the virtual Artemis' horror, "Don't jump that way!" but the reaction was a slow one, and it was too late by that time. Everyone else had followed Mulch's example and jumped down the wall –with the exception of Grub who was too afraid and flew down instead, and Foaly who was still attached to Grub's moon belt.

The hologram groaned, a reaction that could've been frustration had it been a real being. Helplessly, the virtual Artemis watched the events unfold below, as a group of sentries cornered them, their spears and rifles out. The King stood across from them, sitting down on a golden chair, which seemed to be previously made of wood. His hands, glowing with an aura of power, were crossed upon a golden table, another chair was opposite him, as if he were expecting a visitor.

"King Midas, we seem to have trespassers¹." Said one of the guards, who—Holly noted, was wearing golden armor that shimmered rather brightly, _this must be the captain. _

"Mhm," the King sighed melodramatically, seeming quite bored, "Throw them all in the dungeons." He ordered.

The guards were about to take them all in cuffs, but Butler looked upon them threateningly, and they had hesitated. This was Holly's chance…

"On the other hand, your majesty…" The guard with the golden helmet denounced, "they are friends of mine from a neighboring kingdom. Completely harmless… and intelligently gifted." The guards were all mesmerized into nodding their heads and putting down their spears, thanks to Holly, Trouble, and Root. Grub was still a bit shaken from being so close to something so pointy. Foaly couldn't help but snicker, upon adding the last part.

King Midas looked at the party with great interest right then. "Intelligently gifted, eh? Well, I don't much care, adds more diversity to our dungeons. Throw them in anyways, they still had trespassed…unless," a sudden thought struck the King, "You can beat me in a game of chess."

"Pardon?" Root grumbled.

"Why yes, see…I was awaiting for a friend of mine, an old sage to play against me in the game of chess. It's a great hobby of mine; I have been the nondefeated champion in years. However, my friend has been over two hours late, and I'm rather bored so…" King Midas smiled, his eyes sparkled cunningly at the newcomers, "If one of you can play against me and win, well I'll invite you into the castle as my guests. If you lose or refuse to play, then you will all end up in the dungeon for trespassing for quite a few years."

The fairies and humans gathered around, huddling in a circle deciding on what they should do.

"We play." Root said simply, "It's our invite into the castle, and we can easily split up and take whatever is on our lists. By tomorrow evening, if someone needs help with their lists, those who are down will team up to help them."

"Now, the matter is simply who will be sent over to play against the King…someone who is very good of course, this instantly leaves me out." Trouble Kelp whispered. All eight heads turned towards Artemis, almost by instinct, but then they realized that the virtual Artemis was a hologram and wasn't able to pick up a single piece. Foaly also mentioned something about how it wasn't programmed to be good at chess either.

"My brother is rather good, he beat Artemis once." Juliet said, poking her brother on the shoulder. Butler shook his head modestly.

"I'm okay…I mean, Artemis was only two at the time and was just learning how the game was played. I never won again after that…"

"Well, I for sure, suck at it." Root stated, Mulch and Juliet nodded their heads in agreement.

Foaly chuckled half-heartedly, "You know…I could play, I am a genius after all."

Root seemed to have considered for a few seconds, which made Foaly quite annoyed, "Alright…say 'donkey' if you vote, Foaly."

"Donkey." Seven voices said simultaneously, including Foaly himself. Root looked about the group and realized that Holly wasn't present at their 'meeting'.

"Holly?" Root looked about, and finally spotted the elf captain walking up towards the King and taking a seat in the chair.

"I'll play." Holly said determinedly. King Midas clapped his hands in merriment, golden sparks whizzing at his fingertips…

"Holly, what are you doing?" Root groaned. Holly patted Root's shoulder reassuringly, "Don't worry Commander. Artemis taught me how to play himself…now, how does the knight move again?"

Everyone gathered around the game, Root took out a fungal cigar and began chewing nervously. Foaly had to clap his hands against his mouth to refrain from shouting things such as 'don't move there!' or 'the bishop, Holly! The bishop!"

The game had only lasted minutes, and already Holly was down to half of her pieces.

"Check." King Midas smiled, moving his Queen who had instantly turned to gold.

Holly moved her King; sweat dripping down from her nose. Foaly was biting his nails incessantly. Then the King moved, inattentive at all from the game, moved his rook straight into Holly's rather obvious trap. Holly squealed with delight and took the now golden rook. Foaly also squealed and hugged Root in all the excitement, Root muttered something offending and pushed Foaly off of him.

From that point on, Holly had seemed to have been winning. As if for the first half of the game, she had been hustling the King. Now, she was moving her pieces along with ease. Another look at the board, Foaly had realized what Holly was doing…

"Smart." He muttered aloud. King Midas groaned inwardly, and moved his last pawn, which instantly turned gold.

"Check." Holly called out.

He moved his pawn again, blocking Holly's bishop. Holly simply maneuvered her knight, jumping across the pawn.

"Check." Holly said delightfully. King Midas groaned, but there was still one way out. He moved his Queen…

"Check." King Midas called.

Holly tutted, overtaking the Queen with a single pawn, which compared to the golden Queen, seemed to have appeared invisible and unnoticed. There was no other option, King Midas moved the King, further down the board.

Holly smiled. It was at that moment, that King Midas realized he had lost the game, but the piece had already been placed…

"Checkmate." Holly declared. King Midas smiled, getting up from the chair.

"That was a great game, Holly." He said, "You and your friends are welcomed in my castle, and just in time too, dinner is about to be served. You are an excellent player, I would shake your hand, but as you can imagine, I wouldn't want to turn you into gold on the spot!"

Holly chuckled nervously, "Wouldn't want that either."

"Did you say dinner? As in a royal dinner?" Mulch's stomach rumbled and he quickly ran up inside the castle. King Midas chuckled at the dwarf and beckoned everyone inside. Holly lolled behind, looking down towards the chessboard at the fallen pieces and her remaining ones, laying in all glory upon the board.

"One golden king…check." Holly whispered, pocketing the golden chess piece.

ooooooooooooo

Trouble Kelp walked inside the castle last, waiting for Holly to catch up. He pretended to be interested in the golden pebbles, that followed the King's trail, until he realized that such objects were on his list and, one by one he collected all of them. He finally heard Holly arriving from behind and without turning from his task said, "Congratulations Holly, you were great!"

Holly smiled and modestly denyed it, "It was Artemis who taught me, that boy won time and time again in less than ten moves!"

"You've talked to him before this whole thing?"

"Yeah just a little though, you know…since Opal's capture, I've had a couple of surface trips to make sure she isn't doing anything to her new human mother. Foaly got the whole thing on type, it's quite hilarious, remind me to show you sometime! It went on for a couple of weeks until she tried to run away, then we caught her and sent her to Howler's Peak, and in between my travel time, I stopped by Fowl Manor and he taught me how to play chess. Mind you, I knew how to play, but the arrogant Artemis Fowl taught me how to _really _playhe says. He gets on my nerves but, is all around a good kid."

"I don't trust him." Trouble stated simply, Holly was appalled.

"After all he's done for the People?"

"Sure, he's helped us but—well, I don't know him very well to judge, but ever since we got stuck in this game, it all seems very …suspicious."

"In what way? We were the one who encouraged him to make the game, remember?"

"Yeah I know, but come on…Louisburgh? Seems a bit…off to me. And us getting stuck here…"

"You think he planned all this? Even us getting stuck in the game?"

"All I'm saying is, I don't see that hologram of his transporting us to the last level and out of the game, he said he programmed the Hologram to help us and what has it done so far? Led us to a pack of wolves and got us surrounded by sentries. I don't see him helping at all, I just see a cold, evil, Artemis once again."

"Artemis isn't like that anymore! He wouldn't do this to Butler or Juliet or …"

"You? Well, he kidnapped you once, didn't he? Who's to say he's changed? Look at this game he made, completely focused towards gold."

Holly frowned, as Trouble's words sank into her thoughts.

Trouble sighed turning to face Holly, "Look, Holly. I don't mean to upset you; I just…don't want you getting hurt again. If it weren't for your magic…you could've drowned…or gotten seriously hurt."

"We're not physically hurt…it's just a game." Holly mumbled softly, but Trouble hadn't heard her, he was looking around the dining hall. Holly hadn't even realized where they were going, but she was frozen at the sight of the hall. It was…completely beautiful! There was a golden chandelier that would've been rather simplistic, had it not been glittering in the light of the golden candles. There was a golden tablecloth and an ice sculpture turned gold. Generations of paintings hung on the walls in different shades of gold. There were golden ladles, bowls, and goblets. Everything but the food seemed to have been turned into gold! Holly and Trouble were the lasts to a seat and ended up sitting right by each other. Holly consequently was right next to King Midas, which was supposedly a great honor.

"You are the chess champion after all!" King Midas dubbed, lifting up his goblet towards her. Holly couldn't help but smile, he was a good person, if there's something to say in the least, Holly didn't quite know about him being a good King if he were greedy enough to wish upon gold, but he was rather kind, warm, and a gracious host. There was very little to say about humans, so normally, Holly's opinions on the king were a great honor as well.

King Midas told great stories about his Kingdom and how well it is thriving because of his new gift, he explained how he had gotten his golden touch in great detail, and it was exactly how the holographic Artemis had explained. King Midas asked about their own 'Kingdom'. Holly gladly fabricated great tales of her own, Trouble also added a bit, here and there, to keep it more realistic, and less Holly-centric.

"I'm very sorry that you have not yet met my wife, she is off traveling across the Kingdom, quite a jewel, she is. She was originally a peasant, and I, a prince. I fell in love with her as soon as she talked, she has a wonderful singing voice, and she's funny too. It was quite remarkable. Together, we both run the Kingdom. Not many Kingdoms allow women any rights, and to be honest I was a little hesitant on that also, but my wife—Shauna, wouldn't have it otherwise."

Holly was amazed with all the stories, "Our Kingdom is quite prejudice against females too, I had to work my butt off to get into the LEP!"

"Calm down, Holly." Trouble hissed, as Holly slammed her fists onto the table. King Midas just chuckled, picking at his food.

"So, are you two married?"

Holly and Trouble looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously.

"No, of course not." Holly said.

"Absolutely not." Trouble said, stuffing his face with mash potatoes and hiding his face to his plate. King Midas looked amused, a golden tooth glittered.

"Oh, I see. A couple then?"

Trouble coughed, choking on his food, Holly pounded on his back several times more than was necessary.

"Just friends." Holly said in a high-pitched voice, blushing and inwardly cursing herself over and over. The conversation ended right then, and Holly to keep her mind off things, watched everyone else eat. She herself didn't feel quite so hungry and found the idea of virtual food quite upsetting.

Upon the table was pork, turkey, reindeer, steak, ribs, but all the fairies settled upon eating salads and bread, which tasted quite wonderfully. Foaly wondered aloud how one could taste in a game and came to the conclusion that his brain was sending messages to his taste buds. But he noticed, that no matter how much he ate, he didn't quite feel full.

Mulch pigged out on roast and pork, meanwhile pocketing golden spoons and goblets. Holly watched as the King tried to drink his wine, but instantly spattered out the now golden liquid. King Midas tried to bite into his chicken and cried out in pain as he found himself biting into solid gold! King Midas even tried to have a servant pop a grape into his mouth but as soon as it hit his tongue, he found himself choking over a golden nugget. The King dismissed himself early, heading to his bedroom on an empty stomach, rather miserably. After a few minutes, Root realized how useless it was to eat without getting full and whispered across to the others.

"We'll meet back her in twenty four hours, for now let's go on and hunt for stuff from our list."

Mulch belched, rubbing his empty stomach, "I've already collected what was on my list, it was already in this room."

"Maybe you can help me, I've got the King's bedroom." Grub Kelp offered.

"No problem, Grubby." Mulch said taking off with Kelp the same direction the King went. And they all headed off in opposite directions, except Holly and Trouble who stayed behind.

"I just need to lift certain paintings from this wall." Trouble said, wondering off towards the far wall, looking at the captions below each portrait. "After I'm done, I'll go and help you."

Holly looked towards the King's food, musing her thoughts aloud. "Food is valuable isn't it? More valuable then gold, if you think about it."

"Certainly, it's worth more than gold, and Artemis had said there are many meanings to your list." Trouble replied, running his finger through the little words, inscribed on a copper plate.

"Which food item should I take? The wine, the bread, the grape, or the turkey?" Holly asked.

"Does it really matter?"

"I wouldn't think so, but since I have a choice, might as well make it a good one."

"Mhmm," Trouble thought for a moment, while taking down a particular painting from the wall. "The bread." He decided.

Holly nodded, "I was thinking along the same lines." And she took the golden biscuit from the royal plate, treasuring her findings. Two down, one to go!

ooooooooooooo

Foaly clopped on towards the garden outside the castle. The night was quite cold, and it was rather dark, but he could see the accuracy in the position of the moon and stars. Foaly even made out some constellations, humans had provincial views when it came to constellations—they only considered a picture of stars as their constellations. Foaly couldn't see any of the fairy constellations, which consisted of stars, as well as the empty spaces between the stars².

After a while, Foaly spotted what he was looking for. There was a golden blossom tree, and a couple of golden carrots in the garden. He quickly stuffed the things into a sack he carried. "Mission accomplished."

Ooooooooooooo

Juliet after getting lost through a few corridors finally found herself in the dungeons. She noticed some hand cuffs, which wasn't gold, and found that this would present a problem, especially if the item was on her list. She also spotted the dungeon key hanging upon the wall, completely made of copper, and finally she saw a dead man, and in his hand an iron mug. Finding this completely, utterly repulsive, she stuck her hand through the bars and reached out for the mug, slowly she pulled it towards her way, but realized with great frustration that it wouldn't through the bars.

"No problem." She said, and she got the keys, opening the cell door. As soon as she stepped inside, the door banged on her, and the keys, still attached to the outer cell door, fell and skittered across the floor…out of her reach.

"Great!" She said…mug in hand.

Ooooooooooooo

Mulch and Grub Kelp simply had to follow the golden carpet, to get to the King's bedroom. Mulch noticed a particular golden doorknob and figured this was where the bed room was. He pressed his ear against the door, trying to listen for vibrations.

"Umm…Mulch." The younger Kelp poked at Mulch's shoulder.

"What?" Mulch hissed.

"The golden carpet still goes on that way." Kelp pointed with his finger, as if Mulch were blind and couldn't see the golden carpet himself.

"I know that," he rapped on the door then waited a few minutes, "perfect! He's not in the room, which means he must've left." Mulch easily broke through the bedroom and found to his bewilderment that it was entirely filled with golden items. Golden bed sheets, a gold tinted mirror, golden capes and golden gowns. Grub Kelp started to stuff his own sack with everything that was on the list. This was pretty easy, he thought. A few minutes later, Mulch and Grub walked out heading downstairs.

Ooooooooooooo

Butler had just returned from his trip to the armory, his sack was filled with golden swords and weapons that he particularly liked, it was a shame it was virtual items. He was quite happy, for he only had to knock down three people. However, it didn't last long as Butler found himself to get lost within the vast castle, and somehow ended up downstairs. He heard some loud clinking sounds and was instantly alert, quietly tip toeing towards whatever was making that racket.

"Help!"

The voice sounded very familiar to Butler, and then it hit him! His sister was in trouble! He ran towards the noise, getting louder and louder with each step and found himself to be in the dungeons.

"Juliet?" He said, looking at his sister, helplessly banging against the bars.

"Dom! Get me outta here, there's a freaking dead guy in this cell!"

"Calm down, Juliet." Butler shushed her, and swept the floor for the single key. He picked it up and quickly led her out of the dungeons.

"How did you get in there?" Butler asked curiously, in spite of himself.

"You don't want to know…" Juliet muttered, bumping into King Midas, himself. When Juliet bumped into him, all three items had contact with the King and instantly turned to gold, as well as Juliet's sleeves.

"Your Majesty, I'm so sorry!" Juliet said, bowing down on the floor over the items she had dropped, quickly hiding them inside her sack. The King didn't seem to have paid much attention.

"It's quite alright. Just be more careful around me, I could've turned you into gold." The King said bitterly, he regained his composure and turned to Butler. "You rooms are on the third floor, I've already told your friends Holly and Trouble.

Butler nodded and walked off up the stairs, Juliet trailing behind him. King Midas was no simple man, he knew that his friends were stealing gold from him, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He wanted to get rid of his gift, he was getting tired of not eating, of not being able to pick apples, ride horses, or feel the softness of his pillows.

Butler and Juliet arrived at the third floor where the long hall had several rooms awaiting them. Soon, Mulch and Grub Kelp arrived behind them, and a few minutes later Foaly came upstairs, and last of all came Commander Root. Trouble and Holly were already asleep in their beds.

"Did everyone get everything?" Commander Root asked. Everyone nodded their heads. "Perfect. We can probably leave tomorrow morning then, right now I'm tired." And without another word he opened a random door and slammed it shut. Fast asleep inside.

Ooooooooooooo

Holly woke up the earliest the following morning. She still had one more thing on her list and wanted to get an early start on it.

_The last thing the King has touched…._

Where could it be? What could it be? That was then a sudden sound had interrupted her thoughts, she heard someone crying…wondering who in the world it could be she followed the sound, and with every step it became louder and louder. Finally, after following a golden carpet, she peeked through a room, where the sound seemed to have been coming from. She found King Midas, sobbing on his knees.

"King…Midas?" Holly asked, entering the room.

King Midas turned, his vision quite obscured by his tears, after seeing Holly, he tried to hold back the tears but no matter how hard the King tried to look dignify, he couldn't. Holly walked over to him and was about to pat his shoulder reassuringly but he stopped her with barking tones.

"DON"T TOUCH ME!"

Holly gasped, taking a step back. That was when she noticed a poor little girl who also had tears in her eyes. The girl looked exactly like King Midas, the only difference was, she was frozen gold.

"Th-that was my daughter…" the King wept into his hands, "She was misbehaving. She wasn't –" the King sniffed. "She told me some things…I got mad at her, and I struck her…I didn't realize what I was doing at the time. I was overwhelmed with fury. And now…now she's…gone! Because of my greed! Because of my curse!" He sobbed into a golden hankerchief. "My little princess!"

Holly didn't know what to say or do, it must've been awful to lose his only daughter, and in such a terrible way. Greed can do wicked things, and that was generally the Mud Man's weakness…their greed.

King Midas felt as if he had had his heart ripped out, his daughter is a statue and it was his entire fault, his crazy wish, he wished on his own greed and now he has to pay for it. He didn't want this curse! He just wanted his daughter back; he wanted his daughter to be flesh again. A sudden, terrible thought, sparked through the King. Attached to his belt was a golden dagger; he quickly reached for it and handed the dagger to Holly. She didn't know what to do with it…

"Please…" King Midas begged, the King was on his knees, sobbing, looking terrible, and was begging to Holly.

"You must kill me! I do not deserve life!" King Midas cried.

"No!" Holly shouted, "That's crazy, I cannot kill you!"

"You h-have to! I have no will to live! I-I will die any ways! I am already dead! My daughter is a statue…because of me! My wife will leave me, and I won't be able to eat…I won't be able to drink….I will starve! Please! Kill me and end my torture! Please!"

"…no." Holly said, her voice barely a whisper, "I cannot! I cannot do that."

"You have to! I order you! I as the King order you to kill me!" King Midas looked directly into Holly's eyes…and Holly looked directly into his. Suddenly, she realized what her curiosity had gotten her into…

She had to do it. It was a direct order! She had to kill him, but she couldn't, she couldn't kill anyone! She tried to hard, to refuse, to stop herself, but she couldn't. Clenching her teeth, she tried with all her might to refrain herself, but some force told her she had no choice.

Holly bit her lip, and struck the King, golden blood spilling all over the floor, like a glittering sea. It was rather quick, and Holly had hoped—painless. The King fell to the ground, and muttered a single word. "Checkmate." He whispered. And then she too cried and fell to her knees. She had murdered someone! She had murdered the King! Sorrow overwhelmed her and her body was shaking, as she tried to comprehend the thought of herself taking someone else's life. Something that Artemis would've done, but not Holly! She would've never killed someone! But she had no choice…she sobbed hysterically, just as the King had done. _What have I done? _She thought, full of regrets. _He was a good person! He was such a good person! _Then Trouble's thoughts entered her mind.

_Who's to say he's changed? _

D'arvit! D'arvit! D'arvit! Why did she do this? She could've stopped herself, she could've repressed! Why did Artemis make her do this? D'arvit! Why? _Aurum postestas est…Gold is power._ Look where it got King Midas, Holly sniffed, wiping the tears off her face. She stood up and found the virtual Artemis suddenly appear in the room.

"Great job, Holly." The virtual Artemis cheered.

Holly made a face, as if she were about to vomit. "Great job?" Her entire body was shaking, "You call killing a person, great job?"

"It's a game." The virtual Artemis stated.

"But it's real! It feels real! It sounds real! It d'arviting smells real! The fact that I killed someone still stands, and he didn't deserve it! He didn't deserve his death!"

"It's a game." The virtual Artemis stated once more.

"I KNOW IT'S A GAME!" Holly snapped, "You've said that already, you stupid hologram! I want the real Artemis in the game! So I can punch him and actually smile about it!" Holly sobbed into her hands.

"I'm sorry if I had said something to offend you, I'm programmed to respond to certain key words. The real Artemis apologizes, however you are only one step away from going to the next level." The virtual Artemis said, indifferent to this whole thing.

Straight to business, Holly hated it. What bothered her most was how alike the virtual Artemis and the real Artemis were. Maybe Trouble was right…

"And what's that?" Holly barked.

The virtual Artemis pointed to the little girl. "The last thing he touched."

Holly looked towards the little girl, a single tear escaping, trailing down her face. Without another word said, she sighed walking over to the young girl, she quickly picked her up with all her strength, and was directly sent whirling around to level three….

Footnotes:

¹) Now before you go bonkers and say 'the fairies are trespassing! That's against the book!' the book particularly says that they are not allowed to enter a human dwelling and I did explain that they were in the Courtyard. So it's okay.

²) If you've ever read the Lost Years of Merlin series by T.A. Barron, then you'd know that that particular line was 'borrowed from him'. I absolutely love that 'spaces between the stars' line he used. So poetic. I think he also used it in The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy, so apparently, he loved it too.

**Author's Notes: **I had to tweak some stuff from this chapter, and I ended up changing the ending, to make it more angsty, that's basically why it took a bit. In my haste of updating, I forgot to check and edit for mistakes! So if you spot any, you could be of real help! Also, I started with a Grub-Centric beginning to this chapter, next chapter I'll do a Juliet centric beginning, and you'll see why! ;D Please, please, please review!


	8. The Jade Princess

**Chapter Eight: **The Jade Princess

**A/N: **WOAH, four months without updating…that's err, terribly evil of me, I'm sorry. I could probably write a whole chapter filled with excuses but you readers do not want any of that! A few days ago, I got an email that this fic was **nominated for Best Work In Progress fic for the Orion Awards**….I was surprised and quite flattered indeed. I want to **thank every one of you for reviewing and for reading!** If it weren't for you, I dunno where I'll be! Now, I've got my mojo back! Im just so utterly happy that I got through this chapter, because I –hate- wrestling, and having to research wrestling was like…blah for me. But I actually liked how this chapter turned out and for the non-wrestling people out there (like me!) I've written it so that you can understand it and hopefully enjoy it! If you don't enjoy it…well at least I updated for the first time in four months with a LONG chapter and not a 2 paragraph one like I wanted to do :D OKAY! Now I'm done rambling.

**Disclaimer: **Must I really write one for every chapter? If I didn't own Artemis Fowl before, what makes people think I own him now?

* * *

Juliet moaned, she felt extremely dizzy and out of breath, she hadn't a clue what had happened and felt so confused. Her head was throbbing, and she figured that couldn't be a good sign to her physical side. But as she got up and opened her eyes, she realized with quiet relief that she wasn't the only one. Commander Root was yelling at Mulch yet again, and the Kelp brothers seem to have lacked coordination as they both staggered about. Foaly had trouble getting up and finally as he got to and gathered all his energy to lift himself off the ground he tripped over his two extra legs and plopped down once again on the floor.

Juliet looked over towards her brother, she could tell by the bags under his eyes and the gray shade of his skin that he was tired, but as all professionals, he scanned the area for signs of danger, and perhaps to analyze where they were exactly. Juliet shook herself together, reminding herself that she was a bodyguard now, and had to finally act like one…

After her travels to the Americas and getting the Grand Champion title for wrestling, the Jade Princess had decided that her ambition had been accomplished. She learned quite a lot of sweet moves during her travels and was quite undefeatable, it was a fabulous life. But she realized that she missed Artemis and her brother far too much, and she also missed her fairy friends –especially Mulch. Though the stinky dwarf got on her nerve, they made a great team, and he always was amusing to say in the least. Although Juliet loved wrestling, and she was quite good at it, she felt that gaining the title of undefeated Grand Champion had been too easy and grew quite bored of it. So, she moved back home to Ireland knowing that her job as bodyguard would be there for her. One never got bored working for Artemis Fowl II, that much was true…and Butler had needed all the help he could get, as Artemis raided through several art galleries, so Juliet took up her old position with gratitude and a feeling of belonging. Nowadays however, as Artemis was calming down and changing for the better, Juliet felt at a state of peace once more. Though she liked the improved Artemis a lot better, she still missed his life-threatening plots and ingenius schemes. Juliet was a girl of action, and as her new life lacked action, she started to miss wrestling again—not that she was going to go back to wrestling, but she had always wished that her day to day post of protecting Artemis would lead her into a wrestling stadium. She could just imagine the excitement of doing the two things she loved all at once; such thoughts drifted her to sleep every night. So, as Juliet was scanning around the area, her memory of the _impossible_ game back into her conscious, she was quite thrilled at the scenery of level three. Not because of the glooming clouds overhead or the oak tree the group found themselves to be under (the fairies took this to their advantage and once again replenished their magic) nor was it the crowd of fairies that seemed to have gathered about this level. No, it was what they were gathered around that amused Juliet, for right before her was a large and noisy stadium. Not just any stadium either, but a virtual wrestling stadium…just like one she would imagine in her dreams, or one from the memories of her travels in the Americas. The stadium wasn't quite like any she had ever been in. Instead of big, bulky, men walking around in tights and masks she found maybe hundreds of small fairies. They all had their faces painted to their favorite wrestler's colors, and were quite as excited as she was.

"A wrestling stadium…" Juliet gasped, still mesmerized by the sheer excitement of this next level.

"Yes." said a sudden voice from behind them. They all turned to look at the holographic Artemis who was once again typing long stands of numbers and letters into it's invisible keyboard.

"In this level of the game, your objective is to obtain the Grand Champion Wrestling Belt, made completely out of pure gold…" Artemis began.

"This retrieving gold thing is getting a little repetitive. What must we do this time?" Commander Root asked exasperated.

"Not _we_. Just one of you. One of you will have to enter the match and defeat the Grand Champion, therefore becoming the new Grand Champion and winning the belt to go to the next level."

"It never ends!" Mulch moaned.

"Who are all these people?" Foaly asked, looking around curious at the many fairies running about in the game.

"They are the other players who are hereby stuck in level three." The virtual Artemis replied, "Some of them are also computer generated characters. You are free to talk to them if you wish, but I must warn you –the computers will try to rob you of your gold, and it will be best to stay away from them."

"How will we know which ones are computer, and which ones are real People?" Holly asked. The fairies crowding around the stadium all looked real and were created with great detail, she wasn't able to tell which ones were the real from the fake!

The hologram typed a few more characters into the computer and all of a sudden there was a flash of light, which disappeared a blink of an eye later. Holly looked around at her friends and then gazed at herself wondering if anything had changed. Grub Kelp pointed at a gnome close by who had an orange halo around it's head. Looking about more closely, they saw that there were a few more walking around with orange halos.

"I've made it so that you can recognize all the computers that will do you harm. They are the ones with the orange halos. The computers who will try and help you on your way will be with blue halos." Artemis explained.

"That just leaves one last question," Butler said in a hushed monotone, "Which one of us will be the one wrestling?"

Almost every head turned to look at Juliet. Foaly had been keeping tabs on all of the Fowls, including the Butlers. He had known that Juliet had been a wrestler during her time in America. Being quite the easily amused, and slightly curious Centaur that he was, Foaly had decided to watch Juliet's first match in the Shea Stadium of New York, and such was the match that Foaly was left flabbergasted at the young teenage girl taking down the incredible 300 pound Mud man! It was that day, Foaly officially became a Jade Princess fan and had taped all of Juliet's matches since. Those past Monday Nights, the Kelp Brothers and a few of Foaly's friends would all crowd around his couch, passing around a bowl of popcorn, cheering the mud girl on. Except –she wasn't quite a girl anymore…_but a dangerous, wrestling, woman of doom. _As Grub sometimes puts it. Commander Root of course had noticed the lack of staff working those Monday nights and after finding out how they had all wasted their time, dropped Foaly's budget, threatened to fire Trouble, and confiscated the wrestling tapes –which he used to train the young pupils in his martial arts class…

Commander Root sighed at the memory, _blasted community service!_

"It's official then," Juliet said happily, "The Jade Princess is back once more!"

Butler looked at his sister worriedly and was about to speak against it, but Juliet held him back.

"Don't worry, Dom. I'll be perfectly fine, it's a virtual game and I'm good at wrestling, after all, I was the Grand Champion in the Americas. Besides…no one else here can do the _standing roundhouse kick_ or the _Royal Flush neckbreaker_, those maneuvers are like practically required in order to win!"

"Yeah Dom," Mulch snickered, "Stinker here is an expert at wrestling. Have you seen her do the _clothesline? _The _slingshot? _Jade Princess could've invented those moves!_"_

Juliet shot her brother with a pleading look, her eyes wide and her bottom lip sticking out, quivering ever so slightly. Butler sighed, quite annoyed and unsure of what to do. Finally he waved at her.

"Alright, alright, fine. But that's the last time your cutesy face will work on me." Butler grumbled. Juliet squealed and jumped up to hug him. Then she ran towards the fake Artemis.

"So, how do I sign up?"

The hologram positioned its fingers over the imaginary keyboard once more and in two seconds said, "You already are."

The fairies and the two Butlers were instantly transported to the inside of the stadium, which was surprisingly more packed than the outside. Foaly found quite a few people who he recognized, including some of his Techies. Foaly found it pretty odd how so many fairies were all stuck in level three. He hadn't remembered seeing anyone in the previous two levels, and they weren't exactly easy levels. He suspected that the last two levels just had a bigger game field, and most of the fairies ended up scattered far from each other. Foaly held on to this theory, wondering instead on what awaits for them in this level, or more appropriate, what awaits Juliet… Foaly was also quite disturbed that most of his Techies were in such an early level of the game…his friends were practically game wiz's and had even been some of the judges for the competition, to have such an early start, and still be at such an early part of the game cannot be a good sign. Whatever is on this level, cannot be good for Juliet…

Said Mud girl wasn't the least concerned about this level at all. In fact, she was quite excited and anxious to begin. She couldn't wait to see what the _real_ Artemis had concocted for her, whatever it was, it was definitely going to be some kind of a challenge. Juliet knew in her subconscious that she should be worried, but it just didn't worry her much. Juliet wondered whether it was overconfidence, but she couldn't help but think that whatever Artemis programmed, she would be able to defeat it with some ease…after all, _what does Artemis know about wrestling? _How very wrong she was. Genii seem to know everything…

"Wow, Juliet, Look!" Holly gasped, straight before her was a large statue of…well, Juliet Butler. The statue was made entirely out of gold and was in great detail. The statue showed Juliet with her right leg outstretched and her hands in fist, as if she were about to spring from the ground and attack. The caption before the statue read:

The Jade Princess

Juliet smiled observing her model and even circled around it, with her thumb and forefinger around her chin, nodding slightly.

"I like it." Juliet said finally, and Holly let out a hearty laugh.

"Looks nothing like you, Stinker." Mulch interrupted, springing from out of no where. Juliet glared at him, narrowing her eyes and Holly snorted.

"But I caught you earlier talking to the statue and calling it Juliet, what was _that_ about?" Holly smirked. The two girls started laughing and Mulch seemed to blush with embarrassment.

"Just because I'm nearsighted, doesn't mean you should make fun."

Ignoring him, Juliet's attention was averted to the back wall where a long line of pictures hung for the public to see and admire. Each picture was of a famous move or a legendary wrestler and below each picture were captions explaining each event. The photographs were quite excellent stills with vibrant color and so detailed, you could practically count the beads of sweat on one wrestler's face. The fairies by the wall were playing one of Juliet's favorite game that she used to play with her brother using wrestling cards. One pixie was covering the caption with his hand, and the other sprite had to recite the entire phrase based on the picture. They had to tell the year, the wrestler, and the exact name of the move. Juliet smiled, as she saw the sprite jump up and down when she had gotten one correctly.

It was a game Juliet was good at as well, in fact, Juliet could recite the exact date and time of whichever event, and she would've joined in the game…but she didn't know any of the People in the photographs, precisely because each picture in the photograph _was_ the People… Juliet gulped, all comprehension showed on her face. _All these wrestlers…they're fairy wrestlers and this is **fairy** wrestling, which I haven't a clue about!_ She could see the real Artemis' face now…smirking at her.

"_Did you really underestimate me to think that I would just give you this level? Did you really think I would make it so easy as that? Honestly, Juliet, you are insulting my intelligence."_ The imaginary Artemis in her mind was mocking her. What had she gotten herself into? Suddenly, a muffled voice broke her thoughts.

"Will the eight competitors enter the Wrestler's Room, on room 39C, third floor. I repeat will the eight competitors enter the Wrestler's Room, room 39C." A voice announced over the intercom. _It's too late._ Juliet thought…

"Good luck, Juliet!" Holly and Mulch waved, she found herself being pushed forward by Butler.

"Come on, sis. We have to get you to the third floor, just be careful in the ring, please? Don't kill anyone…" Butler smiled encouragingly. It was this that gave Juliet some hope. She was a Butler after all…

Butler and Mulch Diggums caught sight of Holly and her partner called out to her.

"Holly, come on! They're about to start the first round. I think Stinker is on in a few minutes." But the Captain's attention wasn't on the match, it was on a second statue standing before them all. The captain read:

Grand Champion  
Fortuna Dura

Mulch looked up towards it. The statue was of another Mud girl, to Mulch's surprise. The woman looked around the same age as Juliet, and looked Italian. The statue was made completely out of gold and even had some jewels on it, she looked quite opposing…and mean.

"So that's the Grand Champion, eh?" Mulch asked, rather unnecessarily.

"Looks like it." Holly said coolly.

"Do you think Juliet has a chance?" Mulch asked curiously.

"Had this been reality, I wouldn't be the least bit worried…but anything can happen in virtual games, and that is what irks me, especially this one, designed by a genius…" Butler spoke up, his eyebrows furrowed together in worry.

The large crowd took to their seats. Holly and company all sat near the front, each of them with rather anxious faces. _What has Artemis planned for them?_ The announcer, wearing a provocative purple suit, flew up to the ring. He was a sprite, apparently computer generated, for Holly could see a blue halo hovering about his head.

"Wrestling fans of all ages! We welcome you to the virtual representation of the WWE!"

Fans cheered and applauded.

"Now, I know we are anxious to get started, but I must explain all the rules to the newbies of the game, and the ignorant of Wrestling."

A few chuckles and boos from the audience.

"In this exhibition, there are eight players, each of which are hoping to become the Grand Champion and win this-" The announcer held up a very large, golden, wrestling belt. The belt was large enough to go around Butler's waist, and the golden buckle was about twice the size of Holly's own head! It was indeed a prize worth winning.

"As well as a one-way ticket to the next level of the game." The announcer continued, "May the competitors please step up to the ring. Good! Now, I will explain the rules…

"The eight of you will go against one another, one on one, in an elimination tournament. We will play three rounds. In order to win a round, you must pin down your opponent for three seconds. Your opponent needs to be down on the floor on their shoulder blades in contact with the mat in order to be counted as down. If nobody gets pinned, then the player with the highest amount of points will win the match.

"Now, the first round, the four losing players will be eliminated in the cage match. The remaining four will continue on to the second round where they will be randomly paired up into groups of two, and play double-team. The losing team will be eliminated, and the winning team will have to go against each other in the third round, in order to determine the NEW GRAND CHAMPION!"

The crowd cheered, and Juliet couldn't help but feel a little nervous, she was positioned in the dead center of the ring, and everyone in the audience seemed to stare at her. But, she was for the most part, quite relieved. The rules were what she was used to; perhaps there was little difference between fairy wrestling and human wrestling…

"Now, as you are probably thinking, the tournament seems similar to the mudmen version of wrestling. Except, for one factor. Gravity. This ring these players are standing on is an anti-gravity chamber with zero gravity, and as soon as the match begins, players will be spiraling out of control into the air!"

The crowd laughed and cheered, psyched out for the upcoming matches.

The announcer turned 180 degrees and pointed his microphone at each of the eight players. Starting from the left, he went down the line, calling out each player's name. The crowd cheered and applauded after each person was properly introduced.

"And The Jade Princess!" The announcer called out for last. Juliet couldn't help but give a little wave, and the crowd went absolutely wild. Juliet had no idea how popular she was in the fairy community…she also had no idea that she had Foaly to thank for all her fairy fans.

Something distracted the youngest Butler though, she noticed that there were only seven players being called, and she looked about for the last person and didn't seem to find her. "Where's the Grand Champion?" She whispered to, _The Troll Monster, _standing beside her. Just then a hidden trapdoor had opened in the center of the ring, revealing the much-acclaimed Grand Champion – Fortuna Dura. The tension in the large stadium couldn't have gotten more intense; the crowd sitting near the side lines were all up on their seats, half were booing, half were cheering, and all had expressions of great excitement and anticipation for the upcoming matches. As for the monstrous champion, if Juliet was intimidated half an hour ago, she was even more so now, Fortuna Dura was the human version of a troll! Juliet guessed she had to at least be six-foot-ten, and she had a disturbing inflated-like body, as if she had been pumped full of steroids. She also had unnaturally long and slender fingers, and long perceptibly sharp fingernails that only added to this menacing sight. Juliet's only thoughts were how easily capable this woman (if she can still be classified as so) was at strangling the life out of her opponents with two mere fingers. But perhaps the most frightening of Fortuna's appearance was her face. It wasn't just her long whip like ponytail or the red halo hovering ominously above her head, it was more her demeanor. Unlike the rest of her body, it had elegance about it, her cheekbones were unusually high and her eyes seemed like a fierce cat, always darting back and forth, watching her prey…

"T-there she is." The Troll Monster replied quite unnecessarily. Juliet sympathized the poor little gnome, if she was feeling like a small little girl now; she could only imagine how the tiny fairy felt… Now, Juliet actually felt for all the people her brother had intimidated in the past, it seemed as though the tables had turned.

"Fairies and gentlemen, I present to you…the Great… the Undefeatable…Grand Champion…FORTUNA DURA!" The announcer roared into his microphone, spittle flying all over the place. The crowd once again went wild and the immense sound never seemed to cease. Then there was an awful kind of chant that became louder again and again like a bad migraine, Juliet stopped trying to make out what was being said, and her mind stopped altogether…She instead rubbed her index fingers to her temples, and closed her eyes deep in meditation, much like Artemis would do. She took deep and calming breaths, her wrestling ways and instincts coming back to her, as well as a little something else, something that had marked her unique as a wrestler, and even more so as a bodyguard. Juliet slowly opened her eyes; her wrestling madness took hold of her from head to toe, her familiar fiery temper and quick fast reflexes filled her with determination, and her natural eagerness and anticipation for action fired her up. She was ready! She had been born for this!

The announcer had been in mid speech about how each competitor's opponents will be randomly chosen. Juliet noticed the large screen above her head display the first two competitors. She was quite frustrated at not seeing her name up there, Juliet had no patience, she would rather have gotten things over with.

The Troll Monster versus The Combustible Dwarf

ooooooooooooo

Holly frowned upon being introduced to the Grand Champion. She looked like a very formidable opponent indeed…Holly couldn't help but look towards Butler's direction, he seemed to have been inspecting the wrestler very carefully, and he also seemed to be worried of his little sister. Holly tried her best to come up with words of encouragement for the big guy.

"Juliet can take her. She is, after all, the Grand Champion in _reality_. This is just a game, anyway. Besides, she's a Butler."

Butler didn't even turn his direction, instead he replied quite gravely,

"That is what worries me. In reality, such a monster like _that,_ would be in terrible health, but see –that does not apply here. Reality has limits…games do not. Not even a Butler can stand against something…something so impossible!"

Holly snorted, "You mean, impossible, combating with a giant, bloodthirsty troll single handedly? Impossible like escaping the time-stop? Impossible like having less than a nanosecond to avoid the impact of lasers? Is it impossible like coming back from the dead? Impossible like thwarting a genius like Opal Koboi? Impossible like these things?"

Butler couldn't help but smile at his fairy friend. There were definitely some truths in Holly's words. Juliet was a Butler after all; handling of impossible situations was the job description.

No matter what she said to herself and what she had mentioned previously, Holly was still feeling nervous. But looking down at Juliet from the side lines she could see that she was pumped up and confident. Holly's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden eruption from the crowd as The Troll Monster had successfully pinned down his opponent, most of the Dwarves were booing and throwing popcorn, which Holly detested as it always got caught in her hair. One particular dwarf was stumbling his way through the row, tripping over feet and legs.

"Move it, move it!" Mulch Diggums cried hastily, the fairies glared daggers at the annoying dwarf for obscuring their vision just at the pivotal point of the match. Unfortunately for Holly, one such fairy sitting three seats from her, decided it might be funny to stick their leg up high in the air as Mr. Diggums was coming through, and the Dwarf fell straight to the floor, the big bucket of popcorn he was holding flew up into the air _and rained straight down at Holly and Butler…_

"Heh, sorry…" Mulch said as he got to his feet, quietly snickering and laughing to himself. "Err, do you mind?" He asked, plucking a popcorn from Holly's person and popping it into his mouth. Needless to say, only a few moments passed before Mulch found himself in a headlock.

oooooooooooo

The Miniature Hulk versus Iron Knuckles

Commander Root was not much of a wrestling fan, he found the sport particularly barbaric, not to mention rigged. He was sitting by the concessions watching the match from a small 15-inch television, grinding his fungal cigar to a pulp. Much to his annoyance, Foaly, Trouble, and Grub managed to join him and began pestering him with their usual persistence and innocent faces. So, Root made it a point to turn away from them and ignore their constant babbling by observing the menu and wondering how exactly currency works in the game. Every now and then he would glance at several fairies making the line at the concessions and chatting incessantly about the Jade Princess.

"The Princess is going to whoop all them wrestler's ass man!" One pixie was saying to his buddy.

"No way, The Troll will so totally toast her, she'll be beggin' to get out'er the game."

Root grumbled something about how idiotic dunderheads could make it to level three of this 'impossible' game, but was snapped out of his thoughts when he had recognized a familiar face. "Mrs. Kelp?" At the sound of the name, two things happened simultaneously. Trouble Kelp hid behind a couple of salt shakers and a ketchup bottle while Grub Kelp blinked, confounded, for a few seconds, before grinning for the first time that day –and a particularly short elf with curly dark gray hair, and wearing a tacky orange and navy floral dress came to face them.

"Why! Grubby! Trubby! My boys!" Mrs. Kelp exclaimed in a high falsetto, running across the room with the loud tic-tacking noises of her small red heels. As soon as she reached the table, she dropped her large purse, and grabbed Grub by the face, kissing him on both cheeks.

"I've missed you boys so much!" Mrs. Kelp said, with a motherly expression on her face, which all changed too quickly, as she laid eyes on the eldest of the Kelp brothers. She pursed her lips and had her hands on her waist, eyeing him sternly.

"I hope you've been keeping a good eye on your brother, mister."

Trouble's face flushed with embarrassment as all heads around him turned to stare at him, smiling and chuckling behind their backs. Foaly had to stick his hand into his large mouth just to keep from bursting out laughing, and tears were seen streaming down his face. "Yes, mother." He whispered so soft he could hardly hear himself.

"What was that, Trubby, dear?"

Trouble was saved from further embarrassment as his brother soon took narrative, much to Trouble's relief.

"Mother," he asked, "What are you doing playing the game?"

Mrs. Kelp looked sweetly at her youngest son and then glanced back at Trouble annoyed and irritated, "I could ask you all the same question! I thought you all were working."

Commander Root looked on quite embarrassed and then in absolute horror. He was supposed to be out there in the real world working and instead he is stuck in some virtual game! What was happening out there? How long have they been playing this game?

"Err, see…there's been a little situation." Root mumbled, "We can't seem to get out of the game."

Mrs. Kelp blinked dumbfounded then she laughed merrily at the old commander, "Oh, right. Addicting this game, isn't it? I had managed to borrow the game from a friend of mine who claimed it was a great way to relieve stress. It surely is! I've never felt so alive, even if it is just a game, just the feeling of being in the surface. Quite grand isn't it?"

"Um no, that's not quite what I meant, you see-" Root began, only to get elbowed by Trouble Kelp who then chuckled nervously. "What Julius is trying to say mother, (by this point Commander Root glared daggers at the Major), is that there hasn't been any real situations lately, Haven has just been so peaceful lately, and there is very little to do, so we're just playing to pass the time." Throughout his long and fabricated lie, Trouble Kelp couldn't help but twitch. He was never one to lie to his mother, "Grub, why don't you introduce Mother to Juliet? Surely she'd want to meet the… The Jade Princess?"

Grub looked onto Trouble blankly, then after a few minutes caught on.

"OH! Right. Come, Mommy, let's go meet Holly and the mud girl." Grub led his mother out, but not without Mrs. Kelp messing around with Grub's hair, saying things about how messy and untidy he kept it.

When she was out of sight, Foaly couldn't hold it back any longer. He fell to the floor, literally rolling around laughing.

"Could you be any more immature, Foaly?" He shot back.

Foaly struggled to get up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Sorry, _Trubby_, guess not."

Commander Root growled, "Alright, Major. Explain yourself, why did you resort to lying to your mother?"

Trouble sighed, appearing beaten and exaughsted, "If my mother finds out that we are literally stuck in the game, -particularly the part where her _dearest_ Grub is stunned outside the game, she will _kill _me. She will make it her personal business to try and help, and trust me, it'll only turn out worse."

"Gee- Trouble and I thought you were fearless. Never figured you'd find your match to be your mother." Foaly sniggered. Trouble scowled.

"Well, let's see how you cope, with your _own_ mother." Trouble retorted, which had shut Foaly up for a good ten minutes. Root was in bliss heaven, or he would've been had it not been for the troubling thought of what might've happened in the outside world. _How long were we stuck here?_

ooooooooooo

A roar of applause could be heard coming from the crowd as the Iron Knuckles was claimed victorious. The next match could be seen flashing across the screen as the computer had randomly chosen the two opponents.

The Jade Princess versus Mighty Wing

Juliet was pumped. It was finally her turn. She wasted no time in getting onto the ring, and found herself almost weightless. She had been observing the previous matches and found the trick to anti-gravity wrestling. She found that the bars that marked the walls and ceiling could prove useful, by holding on to the bars, she could anchor herself and push off into the air in any chosen direction. Theoretically, it could work. Theoretically.

She felt very clumsy in the air, like a balloon drifting in space unable to control where she was going. Juliet found that as she moved her arms about and kicked with her legs as if she were swimming, she could navigate her way around the ring. She immediately grabbed onto a rail, tight with both hands, her feet was against the hard metal ready to pounce…

Her opponent chuckled as he stepped onto the ring and immediately began floating off into the air. Unfortunately for Juliet, her opponent was a sprite, and sprites had a huge advantage in Fairy Wrestling – they were able to fly, and could control their direction with their long wings. The anti-gravity chamber for them was just like flying without the effort.

"Not used to the anti-gravity chamber, eh Princess?" The Mighty Wing mocked.

Juliet glanced at the infuriating fairy. She realized it was going to be increasingly difficult to pin down her opponent, how can she, if it were impossible to keep to the ground?

The Mighty Wing was able to keep himself steady and stationary with his wings. He smiled at Juliet struggling to keep herself still.

"The problem with Mud men is that they are utterly useless beings. Besides the fact that they are brainless, create weapons of mass destruction to kill off each other, they are only good at destroying their home and polluting their environment."

There was a roar of agreement from the crowd.

"Whether this is a game or not, Mud men are all the same everywhere. And I am going to crush you to a pulp for it!" And the match begun…

The Mighty Wing flew straight towards Juliet without apparent effort, his arms to his side, he was just about to do a massive head butt. Juliet had anticipated this; she moved quickly with ease. _Without gravity, there is nothing to slow me down. _She thought happily. Juliet was thrilled, she was finally in the wrestling ring –and she was ready to kick butt!

In a span of a single second, Juliet quickly let go of the bars, ducking down and dodging the fairy cannonball, which had impacted with the wall, his head banging hard against it. Juliet then took that single moment to her advantage, having positioned herself right underneath the sprite; she managed to flip around upside down by tucking her knees in closer to her body. Then with her hands outstretched, she grabbed onto the railing, with her body weight against the bars, she kicked up with her feet, successfully sending the Mighty Wing shooting off towards the ceiling where he slammed hard colliding against the hard metal bars with a loud crash. His body tumbled down out of control, spinning and flipping towards the ground. It was Juliet's chance – she climbed up the bars, till she reached the utmost bar, where she catapulted herself downward like a slingshot. The fairy crashed to the ground, his body once again bouncing upwards the way a basketball would bounce against concrete, for the anti-gravity chamber does not let one stay in one place! It was then, where Juliet reached out towards him, holding him to a headlock –her speed and velocity brought them both towards the ground, where Juliet had him pinned winning the match, all in a course of fifteen seconds!

The stadium was in silence, their brains processing what had happened. The cameras managed to get the entire thing on film and showed the replay on the big screen in slow motion. The crowd cheered so loud, the noise carried over to the last match in the first round, nobody even registering Fortuna Dura's win over Tom the Tackler.

A new move was invented that day, fairies had called it _The Ping Pong_, for that was the best way to describe how poor Mighty Wing's body had crashed from wall to wall.

oooooooooo

Holly jumped up from her seat cheering for her friend. She was real amazing out there, and it was her first time wrestling inside the anti-gravity chamber! Holly happily jumped up and down in merriment, once even jumping into the arms of Butler.

"Holly, you can calm down. It's just one match." Mulch reminded her. But Holly didn't care, with her hummingbird she flew down to where Juliet was happily awaiting them.

"You were great Juliet!" She exclaimed.

"You were amazing!" Grub shouted, catching up to them. He was with an older lady who looked a lot like him. Holly wondered who this mysterious person could be. Just then, Commander Root, Foaly, and Trouble also marched down to greet them.

"Great job, mud girl. You sure showed him." The Commander rooted. (**AN: **Excuse the pun, I couldn't help myself).

Lastly, Butler and Mulch caught up, both of them expressing their congrats with wide smiles and twinkling eyes.

"Thank you, everyone! I'm so excited." Juliet exclaimed modestly.

It was at that moment that the virtual Artemis had appeared from out of thin air, he had a cold stillness about him and once again his hands were resting upon an invisible keyboard.

"Good job, Juliet. You are through to the second round. Though, I just thought I'd ought to mention my involvement with your match, so you don't end up getting too confident." The hologram said.

"What do you mean, '_involvement with my match'_?" Juliet questioned.

"I mean, your opponent, the Mighty Wing happened to be the weakest and worse at wrestling despite his advantage. I had set it up for you, to make sure you get to the next round."

"But I thought opponents were chosen randomly." Holly said thoughtfully, "By a computer or something…"

The virtual Artemis tapped the side of the invisible keyboard for greater emphasis.

"I know." He said, his eyebrow rose, as if saying, _Do you wish to challenge my intelligence? _Much in the way the real Artemis would've done. When nobody else spoke, the hologram cleared his virtual throat and began to speak.

"Now then. The next round will be much more difficult as you will have to do a Team Battle match, I have you teamed up with the Grand Champion to guarantee your advancement to the third round. However –after that match, you will have to be up against Fortuna Dura, and I cannot help you much there." The hologram said his advice in an airy tone, straightforward, to the point, and all business.

Foaly noticed the orange halo floating on top the Grand Champion's head and questioned, "Fortuna Dura is a computer program, just like yourself. Couldn't you program her to lose to Juliet somehow during the third round?"

"Sorry." The fake Artemis replied in a strange monotone. "Unable to process your request."

Foaly groaned. There were limits to the hologram's capabilities.

oooooooooo

The purple clothed announcer once again appeared on the large screen, he had a large smile and was bobbing his head as if he were very excited about the match. His toupee was halfway sliding down his head and would've fallen off had not his long pointed ears held it into place.

"Welcome back, ladies and gentle-gnomes to the second round of the WWE!" He said the last five words with such emphasis; spittle could be seen flying in all directions from the screen. "Let me just remind you all, that in the second round each player will randomly be paired up with one another in teams of two. Then, all four will enter the anti-gravity chamber and battle it out, the winning team will go against each other in the final round. Now, let's see who's going against who!"

The screen changed to a solid blue color, with big white letters flashing across the screen. They read:

Fortuna Dura & The Jade Princess versus Iron Knuckles and The Troll Monster!

Just as the holographic Artemis had no doubt typed it in. The announcer was once again back on screen explaining the rules of wrestling once again in case any one had missed it the first time. Juliet was only half listening; instead she was contemplating the upcoming match.

She was no doubt confident that she will win the second round, after all, Fortuna Dura was her teammate and with the two of them, they could defeat their opponent without problem. In fact, Juliet was sure that she could handle her two opponents alone and without any help. She was more anxious towards the third round, where she will be up against the Grand Champion herself. Before, she was too stunned with excitement to watch Fortuna Dura's match, which meant that she only had this one match to learn all of Fortuna Dura's moves. Juliet kept glancing back at the Grand Champion, who stared at her malevolently as if Juliet was her opponent in this round. Juliet rarely felt intimidated, but now –as she walked alongside the Grand Champion stepping onto the ring, her stomach jolted. And not just because of the anti-gravity field…

No, she was used to that now.

oooooooooo

Holly took her seat away from Mulch Diggums this time, and found herself next to Trouble and Grub and the mysterious lady from before.

Holly whispered to Trouble questioning him about the lady. Trouble seemed to have blushed and he whispered, so quietly Holly had to struggle to hear him, words like _my mother._ Holly instantly shot straight up into her seat. The shock of seeing the _legendary_ Mrs. Kelp, whom she had heard so much about, was before her and it was quite an excitement. Of course, Holly didn't exactly hear anything _about_ Mrs. Kelp. But over the years of working with Grub Kelp she did hear him complain a lot about tattling to her.

Trouble Kelp leaned in towards Holly to whisper,

"Whatever you do, just ignore her. Don't talk to her. In fact, don't even look at her. Or else, well…you don't want to know."

Holly looked up at Trouble weirdly, nodding her head as if she understood. Though really, she had no clue what Trouble was talking about. Instead she reached her hand across Trouble towards Mrs. Kelp and shook her hand.

"Hello, Mrs. Kelp. I'm Holly Short; I'm a friend of both Trouble and Grub. I've heard a lot about you, and it's really a pleasure to finally meet you."

Mrs. Kelp smiled sweetly at Holly. "Hello, dear. You sure are very pretty."

Holly blushed, unsure of what to say. "Err…thank you."

Mrs. Kelp then turned towards her son, and sternly scolded him.

"Trubby, why didn't you introduce me to her? That was very rude of you."

Trouble muttered a word of sorry and looked at Holly, who was silently snickering, with annoyance.

"Did you not hear what I had told you?" Trouble whispered.

"Oh come on, Trouble. She seems like a very nice lady."

"She's evil, I'm telling you!" Trouble hissed, only to get hit on the top of the head due to Mrs. Kelp's cane.

"Quiet, Trubby, the match is starting!"

oooooooooo

The match had begun, and as usual their opponents were trying to intimidate them and were talking naught but trash, though Juliet could see they were shaken and to the far opposite side of the wall.

Fortuna Dura wasted no time. She floated towards the two fairies expertly, shifting her body forward and back to navigate in the stillness. Juliet was still not quite as coordinated in the anti-gravity chamber, and resorted to holding on to the bars that make up the boundary of the ring. She jumped upwards towards the ceiling hanging down on a bar as if she was a little girl playing on the monkey bars. Juliet found that with no gravity trying to pull her down, she could easily hang there all day, and so she surveyed the match below, waiting for a chance to strike.

Juliet watched as the Grand Champion grabbed hold of the two fairies. Iron Knuckles by the leg, and The Troll Monster by the arm. Then she spun around and around in mid-air and became the human twister. Effortlessly she let go, and the two fairies were flung off in each direction bouncing off the walls. Fortuna Dura looked up towards Juliet smiling, her eyes narrowed, as if saying, _See, I could do it too._

Although Fortuna Dura was just a computer, she was irritated, if a computer ever could be. Her last match she had flung Tom the Tackler with all her might and no one from the crowd had registered any of it because The Jade Princess was taking all the attention…

Juliet was a threat. And that was how the programmed Grand Champion registered it.

Juliet on the other hand was too busy contemplating her temporary teammate, that she was caught unaware when the Iron Knuckles flew straight towards her, hitting her hard on the back. This caused Juliet to let go of the ceiling and float around aimlessly, flipping and cartwheeling in the air. She looked absolutely silly trying to grab frantically to the bars that had held her up so nicely in the previous round, the audience were laughing at her. This angered Juliet, and as the Iron Knuckles regained his consciousness, Juliet sent him a spiraling kick that could've knocked anyone out. Meanwhile, Fortuna Dura grabbed The Troll Monster by the neck with a single giant hand and was practically strangling him.

The referees who, Juliet noted, had blue halos upon their heads, quickly called the match, and Fortuna Dura and The Jade Princess were declared the winners for knocking out their opponents.

oooooooooo

Trouble Kelp couldn't help but inwardly curse himself. He sat in his seat, with his head on his left arm, and his elbow on his lap, muttering to himself about how terrible things have turned out.

Holly was actually having a conversation with his _mother!_ Who was telling her all sorts of stories about Trouble's childhood and was making his brother out to be some kind of a saint. Trouble had no idea why his mother despised him. It was as if, no matter what he did, she could never be proud of him. She was always praising Grub, who had accomplished nothing in the last twenty years! And _why_ did she say those words to Holly? '_You sure are very pretty.'_ Could she have known? Could Grub have told his mother, that for all these years he had liked…practically _loved_ Holly. Trouble braved a chance, and took a glance at the LEP Captain. Her coffee coloured complexion and the way her hair fell onto her face, the brightness in her eyes…she _was_ very pretty. And maybe…perhaps his mother saying that statement all of a sudden, was her way of telling him that she approved…

Trouble smiled, as Holly started laughing at something his mother had said. Curious to be in on the joke, he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"…and then Trubby came into the room with a blanket over his head claiming that he was invisible and cannot be seen and came running up to Commander Root, for I had him as a guest at the time, and dumped a pitcher of water all over Root's pants!"

At this, Holly and Grub started laughing hysterically.

"Root never came over to dinner ever again and was quite reluctant to give Trouble a job in the LEP thirty years later."

Trouble moaned, _D'arvit! _He thought…

oooooooooo

Butler quickly shifted in his seat. Now was the time for the final match, and his little sister would have to go against the killer Grand Champion, Fortuna Dura. He pondered the name for a few seconds. _Fortuna Dura…._Butler turned to Commander Root whom Butler knew had the fairy gift of tongues.

"Commander…the Grand Champion, her name in Italian means…"

"Tough luck." Commander Root completed. Butler nodded his head and replied,

"Suitable."

The two soldiers gravely watched the next match unfold.

oooooooooo

The third round had started without warning. Juliet tried to calm her breath and concentrate at the task at hand. It was very difficult fighting in the anti-gravity chamber when you were limited to the walls and ceiling to keep yourself right-side-up. Fortuna Dura seemed to have no trouble as she started to float up towards where Juliet was at, taking her time to get up there. Smiling that ominous and intimidating smile that Juliet could only compare to Artemis' own, which came to no surprise, as it was Artemis who had programmed her.

Juliet kept herself looking anywhere else but at the Grand Champion. She looked around towards the crowd who were all cheering for _her._ They were chanting her name, their voices all in unison, creating a melodic and enthralling wall of sound.

She looked towards her friends, who were all the most optimistic bunch, each of them determined that she could win this.

She looked towards the announcer's stand, where she found to her surprise, that the purple clothed announcer was not present, and instead the holographic Artemis appeared in his seat. He was typing something on his keyboard, and although Juliet hadn't a clue what he was planning, she felt for the most part comforted. The _real_ Artemis was the one who had programmed the hologram into the game. He had trusted the holographic version of himself to see his friends through the game, and if there was anyone who Artemis Fowl could fully trust, it was himself.

And Juliet trusted Artemis.

She turned back towards the match. Her face filled with something like confidence. To her horror, she couldn't see Fortuna Dura. It was as if she disappeared…

And then she realized too late. She was behind her! Before Juliet could react, Fortuna Dura grabbed hold of Juliet. She had her monstrous arms under Juliet's armpits and were wrapped around her head. _The Full Nelson_, Juliet thought. Before she knew it, Juliet was flung down to the ground, her body madly twisting in the air. However, Juliet was expecting the contact with the ground, she righted herself up, and planted her feet for the impact, as soon as she slammed into the ground, she started running across the ring, the anti-gravity field allowed her to run straight up the wall, where her body was now currently parallel to the ground. Then at a certain point, she jumped, flipped once so that she was face to face with her opponent, and swung her leg upwards so that her foot made contact with the side of Fortuna's neck.

But the computer-programmed champion was tough as a rock and came to quite quickly, by grabbing hold of Juliet's ankle and swinging her around. She then let Juliet fly, ripping through the air. Juliet banged her head hard against the wall, she cursed upon the impact, simultaneously grabbing hold of the bars to keep her from bouncing forth once more.

Fortuna Dura didn't waste a single second, she grabbed hold of Juliet's ankle once more and flung her towards the ground. Juliet spiraled stopping herself from the impact and floated upwards once more. As soon as Fortuna Dura came close, Juliet grabbed her neck with an arm, getting her in a headlock and flipped into the air, the Grand Champion flipping along with her. Then, when Fortuna Dura was right beside her, Juliet kicked once more.

Fortuna Dura caught the blow, swinging Juliet this time with more force. Her body flung towards the wall once more, crashing full against it. Juliet was too dizzy and too tired to stop herself from being bounced back right into the Champion's massive arms. Fortuna Dura had Juliet by the neck in midair and was strangling the blonde princess to her virtual death…

"Take your last breath of air, Princess. You have lost the match, what tough luck." Fortuna Dura whispered into Juliet's ear.

_But Juliet trusted Artemis…_

It was at that moment when the holographic Artemis had just finished typing his long conclusive wave of characters into his keyboard. His finger gently tapped the enter button and the next thing Juliet knew…she was being plummeted to the ground.

All of a sudden, the anti-gravity chamber had been shut off, and Juliet felt a massive headache as she started to feel the gravity pulling at her body. It was a strange feeling, but Juliet was used to gravity…it appeared that Fortuna Dura was not.

An advantage.

Fortuna Dura crashed to the ground landing on her knees which cracked upon the impact. Juliet had fortunately landed straight down on Fortuna Dura's back, bringing the champion down upon the floor. Rubbing her neck and taking deep gasps of air, Juliet recovered jumping up from her opponent, smiling at the Grand Champion's confused expression.

"Not used to gravity are you? It's a terrible thing I suppose, it slows you down, it brings you down, and it keeps you down. Fortunately for me…" Here Juliet bent down to the Italian's level, and pulled her arm back. "My move works best with it." Juliet punched the 200 pound woman upwards into the air, but –thanks to gravity –she came right back down where Juliet was waiting for her, pirouetting at an extremely fast speed, the jade ring in her pony tail found it's mark and Fortuna Dura was knocked out.

Juliet won!

oooooooooo

The crowd was ecstatic! No one dared question the sudden absence of the anti-gravitational field. No one particularly cared. Juliet was the first one to defeat the Grand Champion; therefore, she and her teammates would be the first players to actually have reached level four.

Juliet couldn't believe the exhilaration. Everyone was applauding _her._ The Jade Princess seemed to be more popular below ground than she was above ground. Juliet couldn't help but smile and cheerfully laugh. It was like getting on a particularly fast and scary roller coaster, her stomach was doing all sorts of loops, and she was terribly dizzy from all that spinning around and had terribly wanted to puke, but at the same time she was in high spirits and all the while shaking with excitement!

She stood as modest as one could bear to look yet at the same time proud and confident. The announcer had said something to the crowd, but Juliet didn't register any of it, as she was still panting for breath, as if she had ran a marathon. Then, the announcer lifted up her arm high up into the air and announced her the new Grand Champion!

The belt was barely placed around her waist, when girl and belt simply disappeared into thin air. Several other people from the crowd had disappeared too, drifting on to level four of this _impossible_ virtual game.

* * *

**A/N: I finally finished! If there was anything confusing about this chapter, please let me know and I'll try to explain it to you. Next chapter, we'll take a break from the game and see how the Fowls are coping up. However, I guarantee you we won't take a break from the action. ;) Rate and review please!**


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